TIED (A Fire Born Novel) (19 page)

My mother glanced over her shoulder toward Sam and crinkled her nose.

He smiled, seeming to enjoy her discomfort. “It’s true,” he said. “Like it or not, I am protecting them.”

It was perfectly clear my mother liked it
not
.

“Gargoyles?” She sounded aghast, as though Sam had some contagious disease. “Has it really gotten so bad that we ally ourselves with the Damned now?”

Sam laughed, a hollow sound. “Your kind have enlisted the help of far lower creatures in the past. Don’t worry; you can’t catch anything from me.” He shifted his weight. “And for the record, that
thing
that attacked Max last night—
she
is one of the Damned. I, on the other hand, am one of The Fallen. Big difference.” He sauntered out the front door and closed it with a thud behind him.

My Dad flees the forest, Mother pulling me away from him, running through trees alight with fire.

My mother scoffed, her mouth hanging open, seeming offended by everything about him.

My cousin, Cara, stands crying, trapped in the burning wood, my aunt searching for her, screaming at my mother.

Unable to stop staring at my mother, my dream came back at me in swift, clear pictures.

Memories. They’re memories. They have to be.

My legs weakened as a rush of emotion overtook me.
My past. My life.
Queasiness welled up from my stomach and anchored itself in the back of my throat.

My father sits on a golden throne.

“So everyone is all right, then?” my mother asked. “Teine?”

I opened my mouth, only to close it again, nausea rising. My breathing came in sharp uneven gasps as the revelations—the memories—the dreams—passed through my mind, one by one, in clear succession. I couldn’t stop them.

Max yells up at me from the ground, laughing, asking me to jump down from my bedroom balcony, overlooking an emerald sea.

My mother’s eyes bulged; she touched her throat. “Teine?”

My mom changed my name; it was always Teine. The drink
.
The same drink every night.

“You stole my memories from me.” I choked on the verge of sobs, overcome by intense uncontrollable fury.

Heat ripped outward from my core, causing me to pitch forward and reach for the side of the couch to steady myself.

Images flew across my internal vision, clouding conscious thought.

My eyes closed of their own accord, and I gripped the edge of the couch to keep from falling.

My eyes popped open. Benny’s face loomed from across the room, wide eyed, her shape blurring in and out of focus. She moved her mouth, talking—I thought; I couldn’t make out her words.

Eyes narrowed, I tried to focus on her, to hear her, but she continued to fade, and my vision receded into the corners of my mind. Instant pain stabbed like knives throughout my body, causing me to fall further forward with a seizure-like thrust.

My hands lost their grip on the couch; my skin slithered like a million tiny pores opened all at once.

Pounding feet rattled the stairs, splintering wood, breaking glass—silence followed—and madness.

A wash of red glazed the faces of the people surrounding me, a seeming fortress of stone encircling me on all sides, hand locking hand in a makeshift chain. Gargoyles, standing tall and unyielding like marble statues. None of them spoke or made eye contact with me.

Smoldering anger crawled like bugs on my arms, making me want to scratch. The front door, ripped from its hinges, hung in shredded ruin. My chest rose and fell in hard heaving breaths. I shifted my position, stifled and trapped.

The gargoyle-fence held me securely, forcing me to remain still. Max sat on the couch, his face in his hands. I wanted to go to him.

Benny stood by his side, patting his back and glanced toward me.

Is she afraid?

My mother stood, facing me from across the room, and a deep involuntary guttural growl escaped my throat as my attention honed in on her.

The gargoyles tightened around me further, hand in hand.

What’s happening?
I pushed and kicked against stone arms and legs.

Max rose to his feet, looking pale, ill, and shaken.
“Whatever you remembered is past now, Lay. Don’t do this. Come back to me.”
His eyes pleaded.

“I’m standing right here looking at you.”

He took a cautious step forward and shook his head from side to side but didn’t say anything.

A realization struck me like a shot.

Is he afraid of me, too?

I lifted a hand to my chest, glossy black feathers coming into view. I held back a scream, fear cutting through me like wild fire.
“Let me out!
” I thrashed and screamed against the gargoyles holding me tight within the confines of their stone bodies, but only a caw hit my ears.

“Fire magic is a very powerful … very dangerous gift.”
Benny had tried to warn me.

“I do not want this fate for my daughter,”
my mother had shouted at my aunt.

“You have no idea the power you possess,”
Benny yelled at me. I was too heartbroken to hear her.

Thoughts and memories ran together in a jumbled, confused mess.

“You called me, Teine,”
I’d questioned Ms. MacLarnon.

“That is your name child, everyone knows that.”

Memories crashed together, reminding me of what I already knew, but had somehow forgotten.

My mother washed my memory
.

The voices stabbed at me like daggers in my mind, repeating over and over again inside my head as I stood trapped in the gargoyles grasp.

“We are being hunted. You can’t leave.”
Max had stood on the beach, trying to make me understand.

“You are one of the last of the Ancients. They’ve been searching for you all your life.”
Benny bowed her head.

“Why are we being hunted?”
I’d asked Max, afraid of the answer.

My brain overloaded as voices shouted in unison. Revelations—memories—came at me in a sickening, dizzying fury.

“We are The Fire Born.”

We are The Fire Born. The Fire Born.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!”
I writhed inside my cage, forcing the images from my mind, refusing to allow them re-entry as I steadied my pounding heart and eyed my captors.

Feathers vanished from my body, skin cooled, and the burning subsided.

Benny sat down on the couch, relaxing her rigid stance. Max held out his hand, beckoning me forward, his shoulders slackening, crystal eyes clearing.

I wanted to go to him, to make the anger inside me stop, to wrap myself up in his arms. To feel safe. My father had told me to find Max; he told me not to lose him.

He knew. He was trying to protect me.

And my mother …

The gargoyles loosened their grip, their clawed talons releasing each other, and backed away, freeing me.

I stepped toward Max and glimpsed my mother, fear and terror etched in the deepened creases of her face.

She stole my life, took it away from me, took Max away from me. Hid me from my world, my family, and all that I knew.

The heat I tried to control—the anger—slipped and the prickle of feathers crept down my back again.

Max leaned into my view, shifting my glare and focus away from my mother and onto his concerned face.

He held his hand out. “Come back to me. This isn’t the way.” His voice was gentle, imploring.

I took a cautious step, holding his gaze.

He let out a breath and raised his head toward the ceiling, before locking his gaze back onto mine. “It’s just you and me, Lay.”

Taking one slow, shaky, step at a time, I reached for his hand, seizing it like a life raft and leapt into his arms.

18

“You will never outrun this fate.” My mother’s footfalls clapped against the floor. “MacKenzie cannot save you, Teine.” She sighed. “I wish he could. I had hoped …”

My eyes narrowed as I peered at her.

“You washed her memory?” Max tone came out full of anger.

She raised her head, gaze toward him. “I did what was necessary to protect my daughter.” Her posture stiffened. “Unfortunately, it did little to make her forget you.”

Max’s jaw tightened.

My mother redirected her focus to me. “Your anger alone could consume you, and Mackenzie along with you. There are many reasons I hid your true nature from you. This, as you have seen today, is only one of them. The Raven lives within you; you cannot control it. No one can override its strength. Once it takes hold of your will, it will bend you to its power. Your anger feeds it, strengthens it.”

Her words struck me like a whip across my back. Max squeezed me as if he could shield me from the truth.

I’m some freak of nature. That’s why she hid me away.

Max ran his fingers through my hair. “
We knew The Raven was a possibility, Lay. Everyone knew. Try to relax.”

Everyone?

“You love Teine.” My mother sighed.

“More than you can possibly imagine.” He rubbed my back.

My mother sank down in the chair behind her, a weak smile crossing her face. “It is said that the love between the Fire Born will never fade. That it is endless—an energy that cannot be reined in. A love that would drive them mad in the end.” She glanced toward us. “Your pairing has been foretold for centuries. No one believed it, of course. Since the collapse of the Fire Born many millennia ago, there have been no others, and the war between the races continues.” She paused and exhaled. “Legend says, in order to restore the peace, only one Fire Born can remain.” Her voice caught in her throat. “One of you will eventually kill the other.”

“No!” I swayed in Max’s arms, crumbling into a heap on the couch with him.

This can’t be happening.

“It was never my intention for you to know these things, Teine.” Her brow creased, and she wrung her hands in her lap.

“What else have you hidden from me?” I gritted my teeth. “Tell me the truth!”

She sighed. “When the Ancients fell, one Fire Born remained, and a curse was placed upon the race.” She rested her head in her hands. “The Fire Born would rise from the ashes of old, and the Raven would be born anew, ending the war of the races and restoring peace throughout the realms.” She raised her head. “I saw a change in you, Teine,” my mother said. “I wanted to question you, but you had no idea what you were, what you were capable of becoming, so I held my tongue.”

Emotion clogged my throat, leaving me speechless.

Max?

His thoughts seemed to have closed off completely.

She glanced toward us. “I hoped you would make the right choice if the time came. Protect yourself, as you have always done instinctively. That you would stay with Devon and remain safe through your ignorance. I hoped you would be spared … that you would be an exception, and perhaps that your father was wrong, and you were not one of the two Ancient Fire Borns foretold.” Her forehead rested back in her hands.

My jaw dropped. Max tightened his hold on my hand, the warmth and tingle of his touch summoning a myriad of questions. I leaned my weight into him.

My mother shook her head. “But, I knew it would only be a matter of time.”

I had no idea what to say. My life had become a series of lies and betrayals thrown into a hungry lion’s cage. All my life, she could have told me.

“Who
are
you?” I asked, as thoughts of Benny rattled in my head. Celtic Gods, Demon Vampyres, a race of Ancients, Fae. I knew almost nothing about any of them, but as my mother sat looking into my eyes, I realized she did. She knew everything—
everything
I didn’t know.

My mother bowed her head. “I am a descendant of the Triple Goddesses of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. As are you.”

My mouth opened and closed again. I rubbed my temples and glanced at Max, shifting off him and leaning forward.

“Lorelei, you know I’ll continue to protect Layla with my life. I could never hurt her. My grandmother told me the Fire Born could destroy each other—if they got too close—if they weren’t careful, but I promise you, we’ll be careful. No harm will come to her. You have my word on that.”

She glared at him, her calm demeanor dissolving. “You speak of not what you know, MacKenzie. Did you not hear what I said? Have you any idea what awaits you?
Both
of you? The
Raven
lives within Teine. Any hope I had to the contrary is gone. You
are
the Fire Born pairing of Legend, I have no doubt.” She buried her eyes behind her hands. “This is not a game. You have no chance.” She pushed up to her feet. “This is your fate.” A tear rolled down her face. She wiped it away. “You cannot survive what is coming. Let each other go. It is the only way.” Her gaze swept the room. “I am sorry, Teine. Truly, I am. I have done all I can. If you wish to continue on this fool’s errand … then forgive me if I do not watch you destroy one another.” She turned and walked toward the front door.

“Ms. LaBelle.” Benny spoke in a tentative tone. My mother stopped. “You know how this works. Layla and Max are the Fire Born, just as Legend said they would be. I will continue to protect her, and she will always be under my watch, but Max is her true guardian now.” She sounded sincere but not apologetic.

My mother gave a curt nod, without turning. “I am aware of that.” She glanced at me with a heartbroken smile and walked out the front door.

I looked over at Max

He stared directly back at me, eyes darkening. “I’ll be coming to school with you. The boys will keep watch over the campus—it’s only a few more days until summer break.” He grabbed my hand. “I want you to stay
here. With me.
You’re safe here. I don’t care what the Legend says.”

I tried to find my voice, but all I could muster was a shaky nod of my head.

He cupped my chin with his hand. “We will fight whatever comes at us
together.
”