The WishKeeper (The Paragonia Chronicles) (14 page)

“A pain in my side as usual, she’s turning more and more into her mother every day.”

This made Elanor smile, but she couldn’t hold it for long. “Have you -?”

“No,” Beren knew what she was asking. “I don’t know how to tell her.”

“Don’t. Her mother is dead.” She continued to stare.

“No she isn’t. She’s right here next to me and we can keep it that way,” Beren said, trying to hold back his frustration.

“Look at them, Beren. We ruined them. I ruined them,” Elanor said, referring to their WishMakers below.

“We can fix it. I don’t know how, but we can.” He put his arm around her, but she flinched and stopped him. Staring into his eyes, Elanor knew this had to be the last time this ever happened. It had to be the last time she ever allowed her husband to have false hope; to believe in something impossible. She stood up, just as Miranda stood. The street lamp had popped on and Grayson was telling her that he was going to go for a walk later and that she didn’t need to make dinner.

“This needs to stop, Beren,” Elanor demanded. “Shea needs you. I don’t.”

“Elanor, please.”

“Go home, Beren!” Stepping back, a wave of dizziness swept over her. She buckled in pain as black dust fell from her shoulders. Grabbing her head, she cried out.

“Ellie!” He grabbed his wand and lunged for her, but she stopped him with her dusty hand. She was turning.

“Go!”

“I’m not leaving you!” Beren barked even louder, but suddenly and swiftly, Elanor stood upright. Her eyes were filling with black fog. The remnants of the real Elanor were quickly fading.

“Don’t ever come back,” she said in a low, steady voice. “Promise me, you’ll never return.”

“I can’t.”

“Promise me!” Elanor screamed through her final set of tears and aimed her wand at his chest.

Fighting anger and tears of his own, “I - I promise.”

She pulled the black hood over her head, covering her face. Fog swirled around her with a rush of wind and The Captain was back. She slowly raised her wand up and just before she could fire a grappling shot, Beren reached and grabbed her hand.

“I love you, Elanor. Always.”

She looked down at Miranda and Grayson. Miranda was walking away from the park, leaving Grayson alone. The Captain snapped her hand away from Beren and fired a spell into a nearby tree. She was gone, again.

Falling to his knees, Beren couldn’t hold back the desperate, angry tears. He slapped the side of the oak and tried to compose himself. Taking a few deep breaths, he looked one last time at Grayson, wiped away the tears and aimed his wand. He slowly stood, and walked through the bright light of the opened gate.

20

The Truth Comes Out

Thane was motionless with his face pressed against the cold, muddied snow. The sun was rising on another frigid winter day and Thane’s cheeks were beat red. He groaned as he slowly woke, cupping his forehead with his palm hoping the headache would soon go away. Opening his eyes, his blurred vision could barely make out two bare feet standing patiently inches from his face. Blinking through the headache and following the feet up, his vision returned as he looked up at Beren.

“Oh boy,” Thane said as he immediately tried to stand.

“’Oh boy’ is not how you address your commanding officer,” said Beren, hands at his hips.

Thane pushed himself off the ground and saluted his General. “Sir! I mean, sir!”

“Are you hurt?”

“Yes sir. I mean, just my head kinda...”

“Good.” His remaining members of The Hope were surrounding Thane, all battered, bloodied and war torn, but still in tact. There were nine still left, and though Beren knew two were taken by the Lost Fairies, a third had disappeared entirely. He knew it was Avery, but he had to deal with Thane before searching for their lost member. Goren grabbed Thane’s arm as Beren ordered, “Put him in detention. I’ll deal with him when I return.”

“Is Shea OK, sir? We got split up.”

“What do you mean, split up?” He was surprised to see Thane on The Other Side, much less hear this. He slowly turned back around.

Thane’s headache suddenly pounded a bit harder as he remembered it was supposed to be a secret mission. “Oh boy.”

“Keepers!” Beren yelled, never taking his eyes off Thane. His crew lined up at attention behind him, awaiting orders. “I don’t care why you came here or what your intentions were or what greater good you think you’re fighting for. Tell us exactly what happened.” He stared a hard, meaningful stare at Thane, trying to hold back an overreaction.

“She - I think she was taken, sir. When I saw you, though, I thought maybe -,” Thane’s explanation, no matter what he said, wouldn’t suffice.

“What you think doesn’t matter right now! Did you see what took her?”

“I was knocked out, sir. But…Lost Fairies were…” Thane said softly, knowing he was in for it and that his chances of ever getting his Keeper wings just flew out the window. Even worse, his friend was gone and it was all his fault.

“Escort the non-Keeper back to the Gate.” Goren grabbed Thane again and yanked his arm.

“But sir, I -.”

“I told you to keep an eye on her. Your mission is over.”

“Sir, I was just doing my duty as a WishKeeper to assist in the fulfillment of a wish.”

“You’re not a Keeper, Thane, and Shea isn’t just another wish.” Beren walked away and motioned for his Keepers to follow.

Thane wasn’t sure what erupted inside of him, and even though it was uncalled for, he felt he needed to speak up. He felt his General needed to wake up. Something just snapped.

“What do you want her to do, sir? She finds out a family WishMaker is in trouble and she does what she has to do! If there’s anyone who’s a true Keeper, it’s Shea!”

“You don’t know the situation and I don’t have time for your ignorance. Get him out of here!” Goren pulled Thane away, but the eager and suddenly spirited trainee wouldn’t give in.

“I do know that you’re the only family she has and that maybe you should start acting like it!” Thane knew he had crossed the line. No one ever talked back to the General, much less make such a personal comment as the one he just screamed.

The surrounding Keepers looked at each other and stepped back. Goren let go and hid behind Foster. Their eyes were wide as saucers, knowing Thane was in for it. Beren bounded toward Thane. Rage brewed from deep inside as he stared at him.

“You want to be brought up to speed, Thane? So be it.”

The General took a couple slow steps back and launched up into the air, holding his wand tight. Pausing for only a moment, he charged up his wand as bright as it could shine and drove it straight into the frozen ground. Explosions rippled through the forest as all of the surrounding trees detonated with wild golden light. Gates were opening everywhere. Each tree was suddenly a hot, golden light, vibrating with a loud hum. The wind picked up and howled as Beren stood, staring at Thane.

“Years ago, Keepers could come and go as we pleased; through any gate at any time. The veil between Paragonia and The Other Side was thin, free and clear,” he said in a low, serious tone. He whipped his wand left to right and all of the gates slapped shut. The golden light vanished, but the wind continued to wail. “But our beloved WishingKing decided his own wishes were more important. We were forced to lock the gates shut, leaving only a secret few open.”

Sprinting toward Thane and jumping behind him, he grabbed him around the waist and squeezed. Raising his wand up, a blinding light blasted from the end of it. A rippling wall of energy surrounded and barricaded each tree.

Talking directly into Thane’s ear, Beren continued through gritted teeth, “And we trapped him here in the WishMaker’s world to keep Paragonia safe. To keep young Keepers-to-be safe.” He let go of Thane and turned him around. “We knew Erebus was unable to touch the wishes prior to a Keeper’s intervention, but we underestimated his treachery.”

Thane was suddenly blown to the ground as Beren unloaded a massive spell on his Keepers. He raised all of them up, suspending them in air, caught in a painful spell.

“Sir!” Thane yelled, scared of the madness that was quickly emanating from his General.

Beren dropped his Keepers and let them loose, but cast a more powerful spell around Thane and raised him up instead. Thane struggled to break free, and when his wings burned with red light, he screamed in pain, “Please! Stop!”

“Our king captured and tormented his Keepers. Torturing them to the point of mercy!” Beren yelled. “He destroyed their wings, their hope, their confidence!” Smoke billowed from Thane’s wings as he growled through the pain. Beren was losing control - all he could think of was Elanor. Elanor kept flashing across his memory and how he’d lost her, over and over again. His rage mounted until, BLAST!

A wild, purple spell exploded against Beren’s back and knocked him down. Thane fell hard, crying out as he smacked against the ice. Goren and Foster unsheathed their wands, looking for the source of the explosion, but they were too slow. A flash of black hurled itself on top of Beren. Avery was suddenly strangling him.

“You’ve known! Haven’t you? You’ve known this whole time!” she screamed as her hands wrapped around the General’s neck.

Foster rushed and threw Avery off. Goren grabbed and restrained her as she flailed her arms, wanting nothing more than to beat Beren into a bloody pulp. Thane watched in panic, still hurting from the fall.

“Avery! Avery, stop it!” Goren yelled, trying to calm her. He was only adding to the mayhem. Foster helped a bloodied Beren to his feet, afraid his General might answer with an attack of his own. Beren pushed Foster’s helping hands away.

“Let her go! It seems Private Avery has something to say, so let her say it!” Beren was out of breath and still angry, but he’d given in at this point. Let everyone know what his secret was, he didn’t care anymore.

Avery pushed Goren away and tried to compose herself. Watery, angry eyes flashed at Beren. “How could you? How could you leave her here if you’ve known all along?”

“You’re overstepping your bounds, private. You don’t -.”

“I loved her!” Her scream ricocheted against the surrounding ice of the trees. “When everything was falling apart, she was kind and thoughtful, and understood what I had to put up with. Who I had to put up with!” she screamed the last part only to keep herself from breaking. With what little strength she had left, “And you left her here…with him.”

Thane finally had something in common with the members of The Hope. None of them knew what was going on and they looked at each other for any help with solving this sudden riddle.

Beren slowly approached Avery. After a pause, he slapped her. He was known as a powerful General among his Keepers. No one crossed the General, not because they were afraid of him, but because they respected him. He was loved because he brought order and hope to the WishKeeper corps, but something in him cracked that day and his Keepers saw it. Avery was so surprised by the slap, she barely felt the sting.

“For the past ten years I have spent every waking and sleeping moment broken. Every moment filled with a desperation to, just once, hold Ellie again. If you think I walked away from that night without hope of bringing her back, you’re the same naïve fool I met years ago,” Beren wasn’t angry anymore. Part of it was that he understood Avery’s anger, but mostly because she simply didn’t know. She didn’t know what he’d been through. How could she know?

“But you’ve done nothing about it?” Avery’s voice cracked.

“She wasn’t left here, Avery. She -“

“She’s still here, isn’t she?!”

“She chose to stay here!” his yell was louder, firmer, and ended it.

Walking over to Thane, the General helped the confused, young fairy stand.

Thane could tell that his General was exhausted and with this new information suddenly revealed, he couldn’t help but feel terrible. The other members of The Hope didn’t know what to do or how to react; seeing their commanding officer so grounded, so…real. There was an unexpected level of respect they suddenly had, though they still couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

“Are you OK, Thane?” Beren asked, softly.

“Yes, sir,” was all Thane could muster.

“Avery, I am sorry I struck you. That shouldn’t have happened. None of this should have happened, and yet it did. And now we have to do something about it. It’s all we can do. Just keep moving forward,” Beren said, as he looked at his fellow WishKeepers.

Avery wept for the first time in ten years, and let go of tears that had filled to a boiling point. Goren and Foster watched their quiet friend break down and didn’t know if she needed space or a shoulder. Beren softly walked over and hugged her.

“Shea is here, Avery. She’s alone, frightened and confused. She needs your help. Can you help me find her?” he said, with his arms still wrapped around her.

She caught her breath and pulled away from her General. She nodded and he understood it to be more than just an agreement, but an apology. Nothing more needed to be said.

Calming with a deep breath, Beren addressed his troops, “The Keepers who are trapped here struck a deal with Erebus. A deal that I did not approve.”

“A deal, sir?” Thane asked, happy to be clear of the heart aching moment.

“Deliver the next True Love Wish to him in exchange for their freedom. But they’re too blinded by their own will to survive to understand that a True Love Wish is all Erebus needs to reclaim Paragonia and all wishes everywhere”. Beren looked through the dense pocket of the woods as he finished. Thane stood next to him, trying to sort out all of this new information.

“Then wouldn’t helping Shea retrieve her wish be even more important -,” Beren didn’t bother to let Thane finish.

“Shea isn’t the final heir. Not yet anyway,” he responded.

“If she’s not,” Thane wondered aloud, “and other than you, who does the wish belong to?”

“Her mother.” He looked at Avery when he said this. Her eyes flickered with what little life was left in them, and she realized the magnitude of the situation. Erebus needed Elanor to retrieve the wish for him.