Anomaly (Causal Enchantment) (31 page)

She will go back immediately. And then I will crush her wo
rld and she can be no more harm to us
.

I gasped. The Fates
could communicate telepathically with each other and somehow, with that one touch, I was now eavesdropping on them!

I knew their plan. Sofie was right; they had lied. They had no intention of letting me live my life in peace.

Their faces contorted with panic. They had figured out that I could hear their private conversation. But, how was that possible?

Sofie’s words hit me.

Because I shared their same power.

And they
didn’t give it to me. I was somehow
harmful
to them.

“
We should not have brought her here!” Terra screamed. The ground shook as she lifted her hands. A wall of thick, black soil suddenly formed behind her, bursting from the ground with force that would swallow anything in its path.

Each Fate quickly followed suit
, forming walls of scorching fire and turbulent wind and a whirlpool of water, expanding until their borders joined, the deafening sound rattling my entire body, crippling my ability to think. A united front, they glided closer, deliberately, as if capturing a dangerous threat.

Even against the earsplitting noise,
Sofie’s last words demanded my attention and I fought to latch on to them. I could fight them, she had said.

But how?

My chest constricted but then released
as their walls closed in, as I began to feel the heat of fire on my back and the suffocation of soil over my head. They were going to consume me with their power. I was going to die here. I would not get to live out the peace I so desperately wanted, or say goodbye to my friends. I would die, and Sofie would die. And for what? A game?

I closed my eyes as that intoxicating
feeling still lingering within me began to bubble, thriving off the fear that the Fates had created in this vacuum of power, driven by an even more commanding need: revenge. I’d suffered at the hands of Viggo and Rachel, of the Sentinel and the witches, even at the hands of Sofie. But none of them were the real threat.

T
he Fates had always been the true threat.

I didn’t want to fight them.
I wanted to choose my own fate.

I wanted them gone.

The noise suddenly vanished.

I inhaled deeply before I dared open my eyes
…

I was surrounded by a white nothingness.
The large bowl stood before me, thousands of tiny worlds quietly waiting.

The jungle was gone.

As were the Fates.

A moment of alarm hit me until I zeroed in on the pedestal to see the marble sitting atop it again.
With merely a thought, I stood before it, marveling at its size, wondering how it was possible that something so small could contain everything that I could ever want within it.

I was just about to touch it when
something fluttered behind me.

I turned to find hundreds of butterflies appear out of the nothingness, their iridescent wings glimmering through rays of sunshine, though where the sun was, I could not see.

Iridescent like the Fates’ eyes. Was this a trick? False hope?

I watched with
suspicion as one landed atop the pedestal, unfolding its wings to stand tall.

I gasped.

“Hello, Evangeline,” the miniature woman greeted.

Glancing around, I
saw that each butterfly had a tiny, human-like body hiding within the expanse of her wings.
Faeries?

“You may call us that,” she said
. A musical giggle carried and multiplied as each mimicked the sound, until a beautiful, calming melody filled my ears.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I watched them dive int
o the bowl, plucking worlds and flying away, disappearing into nothingness.

“
We are removing the worlds that the previous wardens let die. Do not despair. As new warden, you will have fresh worlds.” Gesturing above, I looked to see more faeries appear, colorful marbles within their grasp.

I didn’t understand
her words. “Warden?”

Another giggle. “
Yes, you are the new warden of this realm, which is under my dominion. I have deemed it to be so. You will protect and serve as my last wardens failed to do.” Her pretty face pinched. “With the almost limitless authorities granted and long periods of time, wardens sometimes lose sight of their true roles. They behave badly. That is why I gave you all four elemental powers to destroy them. A rather fitting end to their game, would you agree?” She leapt up in the air and twirled before landing again. “Their time had come. As single warden, there will be no need for power struggles or games in the future, correct?”

“Uh
…” I faltered.

“Do not worry
. You will grow accustomed to your new role. You will do well in it.”

Her confidence in me did not transfer.
“I don’t know the first thing about … this … any of this. This is a mistake.” A role like this was more suited to Sofie.

Sofie!

Caden
!

I immediately dropped to scan the surface of the bowl. How did I make that screen appear? Were they okay? Would I see them again?

“So many questions,” the faery laughed, obviously able to read my mind. As if choreographed, the faeries lifted off in unison, the one speaking joining them.

They were leaving.

“Wait!” I cried out. “But … I’m alone!” I frantically searched the white nothingness around me.

She drifted back down
again, this time landing directly on top of Earth, a sympathetic smile filling her entire face. “You will never be alone if you do not want to be.” Her bare toe rolled over the smooth surface beneath her. “This is your origin. While you are limited to influencing the other worlds within your supervision, here …,” With a flutter of her wings, she lifted off to hover above the pedestal. “Anything you want is yours. It is our gift to you for your future service. May you thrive.”

She
vanished into the hazy white nothingness.

“
Anything
I want is mine,” I repeated, reaching out to touch the smooth sphere.

It
held
everything
I wanted.

Epilogue

“Dude! I
never realized how much I missed this place.” Bishop slid down into the hot water, wrapping one arm around Fiona and another one around Amelie. A swift knuckle to his bicep from Julian and Bishop pulled his arm away from the pretty blond.

“I can see why you
guys liked hanging out in here.” Julian’s eyes roved over the cavernous oasis with admiration.

I slipped into the water next to Caden, feeling his jade eyes
inch over my scantily clad body, sending a thrill through me. “Does it look exactly like the real one?”

“With a few embellishments, of course
,” I said, gesturing to the hundred-foot-high cliff. Amelie had insisted that the original wasn’t tall enough for her swan dives into the water below.

“I keep asking
Evie to add gators to up the excitement but she refuses. I don’t know why.” Bishop leaned his head back to relax.

Because
she’ll be fishing your heart out of their stomachs at least once a day for being the idiot who tries to turn them into pets
, Max’s gravelly voice retorted as he meandered past, his brothers in tow.

Chuckles erupted around the spring.

“We all really don’t need to have Max in our heads, Evie. You can switch that up anytime.”

“If I have to suffer
, then you all do too. It’s only fair.” Resting my head against Caden’s strong, sculpted chest, I sighed softly. I’d gladly stay like this for the day.

The little faery
hadn’t been kidding when she said I could have anything I wanted. I had
everything
I wanted at my fingertips. I may not have any clue what being a “warden” meant, but I figured out how to get what I needed very quickly.

In seconds
, the empty white nothingness held everyone I loved. And they hadn’t left me since.

“Evangeline,
I’d like to go see Veronique,” a soothing French voice said.

Caden’s arm tightened around my waist as if to hold me in place
, but after a light pinch against his ribs and a quick kiss on his cheek, I squirmed away. I hopped out of the hot springs and walked over to the vessel. It didn’t matter what world I conjured—the Oasis, the ocean, a beach, the Siberian mountains—my responsibility in the form of a giant bowl of worlds was always there.

It would take some getting used to.

“You know I still have no clue what I’m doing, right?” I waved my hand to pull the image pool across. An image appeared of Veronique kneeling in front of a garden at the French countryside home she and Mortimer shared, planting spring bulbs.

“You seem to be figuring things out quite well.” Sofie smiled
, reaching out to clasp hands with the tall, dark-haired man next to her. “Ready to go see your brother-in-law?”

Nathan rolled his eyes
and I laughed. I found most of his facial expressions amusing because he was so different from his doppelgänger, Wraith. Those idiot Fates and their sick imaginations. If they’d had a circle of friends as I did, would they have abused their powers in such a manner?

“Maybe you can convince them to join us
next time,” I suggested.

I
t was Sofie’s turn to roll her eyes. “You know Mortimer. He’ll come for a visit but he prefers the real world. And now that everything is under control, they’re enjoying themselves. They were even going to visit Manhattan. He wanted to show Veronique the atrium, seeing as it was built for her.” Sofie paused, her smile sliding only slightly. “I’ll talk to Mage and see what she thinks about the situation there.”

Though the city stood as pristinely as before, the bombing itself had not yet been erased. I wasn’t sure how it could be done without ramifications
to the human world. Would I fix one issue only to have it snowball into another? It seemed I would be learning what a warden of magic did through trial and error, for I hadn’t seen so much as a butterfly wing since being “appointed” to my new role.

As it was now, the miraculous rebuild
of Manhattan had the entire world on pause. Some believed it to be the work of angels, while others—those who had not witnessed it firsthand—convinced themselves that it was a disgusting political hoax. Regardless, citizens united in recovery efforts and a time of peace—though temporary—held more trouble at bay. The Sentinel had gone underground with Galen tagging along to keep tabs. Mage monitored the sorceresses closely. Regardless, they wouldn’t be granted any “causal enchantments” anytime soon because I hadn’t the first clue how to receive them. Right now, the only requests that ever reached my ears were Sofie’s. I supposed that granting the Witches Order requests wouldn’t be a problem. It would simply be a matter of what I
wanted
to grant.

And all the other worlds in my realm? The thousands of tiny globes waiting for my attention? They’d definitely be waiting a while.

Still, Mage’s concerns were valid. Peace was only ever temporary. And when the flipside reared its ugly head again, would I interfere? Would the faeries deem that a misuse of my power? With no limitations set out for me, what would earn my expulsion?

“
How is Mage? Will she come with you?” I asked.

Sofie smiled
as Nathan pulled her to his chest. She hadn’t stopped smiling since I’d brought him back to her. “Maybe once she finds that special someone, I can convince her. We’ll see.”

“Okay, well
… say hello to everyone. Let me know when you want to come back.”

Placing a kiss on my forehead, Sofie
beamed. “I will.” Her eyes searched the pool. “I assume you will all behave while we’re gone?”

My flat look
made her chuckle.

“And where will
we be living next?” Nathan asked in his deep Parisian accent, his eyes roaming the cave.

Given I could change our entire surroundings with the twitch of a finger, everyone was getting their choice of location. “Well, it’s Julian’s pick
, so…”

“Rivendell!” Julian hollered.

Nathan’s blank look—he’d only recently learned what a television was—cracked me up.

“Well, I hope it will be brighter. This cave dwelling is a bit tiresome,” Nathan
said with a teasing smile.

“Aren’t you leaving?” Bishop yelled. The Oasis had been his pick.

“Okay, see you when you’re ready.” With just a thought from me, I watched Veronique’s excitement in the image pool as they appeared before her crouched form.