Smoke and Mirrors (46)

Forty-Six

Nothing Left to Burn

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When I woke up, a day had passed.

I was also starving—which wasn’t unusual for me, but this hunger was different. It was a gnawing ache that felt like I hadn’t eaten in days.

I was dressed in normal Outside clothes, thanks to the tie-dye girl. I wondered if she’d grown up there as well, because nothing about her other than being a member of the Fates seemed to say she was an Insider.

I tugged my tie-dye shirt away from my bandaged wound and sat at the table before me. We were in the dining hall of the Ortyr—which was a giant building with a bunch of offices and rooms for the different Fate members to live and work in. There were only ten Fates, but each one of them had people that worked for them.

Some kind of golden broth was brought out for us to eat. It was warm and steaming and had chunks of vegetables chopped up in it. It went down my dry throat like silk and tasted like heaven.

After we ate, the dishes were cleared and the other Fates stood. I followed their actions and rose from my chair.

One man I remembered from my wedding cleared his throat. “Let’s let the meeting commence, then. Tessa, thank you for being here today”—like I had a choice?—”your presence is appreciated. If everyone is ready, we’ll get down to business.” He cleared his throat again and adjusted the neckline of his tunic shirt. “Tessa claims to have discovered the prophesied evil. Care to explain?”

I felt all eyes turn to me. I could have shriveled beneath their stares—melted into a pile of goo and puddled under the table.

But unfortunately, most people were incapable of turning into goo. I was among one of those unfortunate souls.

“Uh—yeah. Hi there. So, um, turns out, there’s actually a secret group of bad guys trying to take away our Talent so they become the only ones left with Talent.” I paused and inhaled a shaky breath. “We don’t need the unicorn horn to control our powers. We never did, that was all part of their scheme to steal our Talent. There’s—”

“Oh, come on. Not need the horn? You’re kidding! Haven’t you seen the kingdoms since it’s been gone?! Destroyed by three year olds!”

“She’s one of those people. She knows nothing!”

“Wow, you seriously believe that?”

Their replies and arguments bombarded me all at once. I couldn’t focus on a single argument without losing my thought process.

“Everyone silence, let her speak!” Tie-dye shouted. “She’s not done yet!”

I gave her a grateful nod and continued, my stomach full of butterflies. What if I was wrong about all of this? After all, what did I really know about anything?

Still, I continued, “Lady Wyrn was in this group. They’re that old. The war was never about freedoms, it was about making Wyrn look good to the people so they would accept her and her group. It’s still working behind the scenes. The prince of Time is one of them, and so is my mother, Adara.” I sucked in a breath and scratched my ear.

Silence. It was a heavy silence, not like the easily-broken kind. This was thick and uncomfortable. No one wanted to speak, because if the accusations I made were true, that would mean that everything they’d ever known was a lie.

“Shi was the one who killed me,” I added softly. “He was aiming for Seraphina.”

“Ah, the Rebel Queen,” one man said suddenly. “That’s what they’re all calling her now, aren’t they? She’s defied the warnings of every sane person around her, and still she continues to hide this blasted unicorn horn.” He looked at me very sharply then and I shivered. “Imagine a permanent life without the horn. If the days of old are brought back, we really would be powerless. Our homes would be destroyed, the children will be out of control—full of Talent with no idea of what to do with it. No. We can’t have that happen.”

I lifted my chin at him. “That’s what they want us to think it was like. But imagine a world where everyone has a lot of powers! Not just the villains, but the good guys too! It wouldn’t be so bad—not really.”

“Seraphina is your aunt, child,” another man chipped in. “It’s natural that your loyalties would lie with her, but don’t let family ties blind your thinking.”

I stomped my foot. “I’m not! This is a real issue we’re facing and only she seems to realise it. She has sacrificed so much to show everyone the truth, and all you can do is blame her!” Fire raged in my veins, begging to be released. I managed to calm myself, but only slightly.

“We have good reason to blame her, don’t forget,” the older woman with the bun said.

I sighed. “That’s what this group wants you to think. They want all of us to hate Seraphina so much that we ignore them entirely. And it’s working. Her own people have turned against her! No one trusts her; they stole her son from her, and now they’re trying to steal her kingdom. She took the unicorn horn to show us that this group exists. No one would listen otherwise!”

“Suppose you’re right,” Tie-dye said slowly. “Suppose she really did take the horn to show us that we can survive—even thrive—without it. Can you explain why our cities are falling apart and our children’s powers are becoming too powerful for their parents to control?!”

I nodded. “They twisted our society. See, ideally, everyone would be strong enough that one person being extra strong doesn’t matter, because there’s enough Talented people to help calm the chaos. However, you remove the Talent, and no one is strong enough to protect themselves anymore.”

Several people began speaking at once about my argument. At that moment, one woman with skin the color of burnt charcoal and eyes as silver as the moon stood up. I could feel power rolling off of her in waves—whether that was authority or Talent, I didn’t know.

“I have a plan,” she began calmly. Everyone stopped speaking and listened closely. “If she’s right, if this really is the unforeseen evil of the prophecies, then how could we afford not to listen to her? If she’s wrong, we’ll deal with it, but at least we didn’t act foolishly. They already think she’s dead, which means they’ll be less guarded now that the one prophesied to end them has already been taken out of the picture.” She turned to me. Her silvery eyes seemed to stick mine to them, like moisture to ice. “Are you willing to allow everyone around you, everyone you know and love, to believe you never came back to life?”

I swallowed at her question. Her words stained the atmosphere like blood, and it clung to me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you claim this is truth. I’m asking that, if you believe this is real, you will stay dead to the people. No one must know you’re alive. We will use your death to draw the villains, if there are any, out of hiding. During this time, you will remain here with us. You have much to offer the world, but it can backfire if you allow people to use you.” She raised an eyebrow at me. “So? What do you say?”

I swallowed again. My stomach twisted anxiously. Could I do that? Leave behind everything I’d started here—pretend I was dead?

“No—I mean, well, I need to think about it.” The words tumbled from my lips before I’d even had a moment to register their existence. I couldn’t leave my dad. Not again. He was probably sick with grief after hearing about my death—if he even heard about it yet.

“At least think about it.”

I shivered. “Alright, I will.”

***

I thought about it for only an hour before I came to a decision.

I was going to go through with it. My dad, my mom, everyone I loved and knew would think I was still dead, at least until I was able to come out of hiding. Even Sterling had to believe the lie for this to work.

It was the best option I had.

If I could stay out of reach from my mother and her group, I could practice strengthening my powers, which was something I needed to do anyway. My mother was so much stronger than I was, and her group kidnapping Adrian was proof of that. I needed to be able to protect myself and those I cared about, and that wasn’t going to happen without training.

Then I imagined my dad’s face upon discovering that I’d been killed. The heartbreak he’d feel yet again over the loss of his only daughter. I crushed the sheets of my bed in my fist.

It was dark. The windows of my room were flooded with moonlight, not that that helped things much. The dark shadows cast by draperies and doors mimicked the bitterness of my mood.

If I succeeded in taking down mom’s group, I could see my dad again, but at the cost of my mom. And it was prophesied that Sterling would destroy his kingdom because of my death—not that I believed he cared enough about me to fall into that kind of state, but something bad had to happen.

But if I died.

If I was dead to the world, I had a chance at life. And not just life for me, life for all of the Inside and Outside worlds. If I could become strong enough with my powers to protect those I love, if I could learn more about stopping this group before it was too late, then we had a chance at truly living.

That was something we all wanted, wasn’t it?

***

“The prophecy is coming true.”

I looked up from my magazine—a recent edition of Vogue that tie-dye gave me.

“What part of it?” I furrowed my eyebrows.

Tie-dye—whose name was actually Marissa—sat in the chair across from me and smoothed out the wrinkles in her purple tie-dyed jumpsuit. “There’s a civil war beginning in Sterling’s kingdom. He shut down many of his military bases in an effort to search for the ones that killed you—and the people are starting to riot.”

My eyes widened. “Wait—he did what?” For me? Sterling?

She nodded, a slow smile pulling at her lips. “That husband of yours is worrying himself to pieces.” The smile dropped. “But he’s going to destroy his own kingdom if he continues down this path. He has enemies who aren’t sure at this point if he’s bluffing, or if this is real, but the moment they decide it’s okay to invade his kingdom, they will.”

I felt my face pale. “No way. There’s no way Sterling would ever care enough about me to—destroy his own kingdom over my death. No way.”

Her fingers wrapped around a strand of her hair. “Well honey, he’s doing it. Like it or not, prophecies do have their ways of coming true.”

“What can I do?” I asked. “To stop it, I mean. Is there something I need to do to keep this from happening?”

Marissa exhaled slowly. “We made contact with your aunt this morning and have begun questioning her about this group you claim to know so much about. I’ll answer that question once we know more about the situation.”

I leaned forward in my chair. It creaked. “She’s here? Now? Does she know—about me?”

“Oh, honey of course not. No one can know about you yet. But she is here, yes. She’s staying in one of our safety homes. It’s designed to protect her from any possible attacks on her life. Prince Adrian is also here.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. It felt like a weight had been taken off of my shoulders. They were safe, Adrian was still alive, and they were being kept away from my mom and her group.

“How is Adrian?” I asked, my voice quiet as I fiddled with the hem of my shirt.

“He’s living, if that’s what you mean.” She stood from her chair and snagged her fingers together behind her back.

I hesitated. “Is he—okay? He looked. . . so awful there.” I cut myself off as memories of his wounds clawed at my brain.

“I don’t know. Sometimes the worst scars are ones we can’t see, you know.” She sighed quietly and ran a hand along her braid. “He’s alive though. Poor kid may have nightmares for years, but at least he’s alive.”

I shuddered.

She tilted her head at me. “I think it’s obvious that your mother’s group is real. I admit, I did have my doubts at first, but the recent developments with Adrian and Seraphina have changed my mind.” She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, the fact that some of the Fates are still debating it has me floored, but whatever. They have their reasons.”

I snorted, which turned into a sneeze, which then splashed water onto the floor around us.

Marissa flinched and stepped back as water pooled around her feet, then sighed. “Your mother held you back by kidnapping you, you know. You could have been so powerful by now, and yet here you are, sneezing water everywhere.”

I shrugged with a guilty smile.