Born In Flames (19 page)

“Totally,” I responded with heavy sarcasm.
She must’ve heard it in my tone. She stopped what she was doing and looked up. Her eyes filled with understanding. “You know,” she said hesitantly, “you’ve never been alone on this side. My mother’s a Seer and she’s watched over you. Over both of you actually.”
“Why?”
“There are higher powers interested in your well-being,” she admitted reluctantly.
My hands began to tremble as a sense of dread crept in. I tried to clear my throat quietly. “So your mom must be pretty powerful then…to be able to watch over me from the other realm,” I fished. I started to see why she looked so familiar now that I took the time to look at her. “What’s her name?” I asked, trying to hide my suspicions.
“Eve.”
My stomach dropped. I went completely still, trying to quickly decide if I should run or knock her out and then run.
I knew this was a setup
, I thought with disappointment. I slowly reached to turn the car off, hands unsteady with fear. “Aurora, what’s wrong? Why are you so pale?” she asked with concern, eyebrows furrowed and head tilted like a puppy dog. It was a trick, a psychological trick. Either she was a great actress or…she was sincere.
“Eve. What is this? Some kind of sick joke?” I asked, trying to sound angry though my voice faltered. She looked perplexed.
My internal struggle was driving me mad because deep down, I was willing to wait and find out. She was the closest thing to my past that I had at the moment. But the being inside of me let the feeling of betrayal take over my sensibility. I could only see the worst.
“I don’t think anything is funny, do you?” she countered, tipping her brows in wait.
I stiffened my jaw as I spoke through tight lips. “Eve’s your mother? Are you two some kind of scam artists? Have you been spying on me or using some kind of witchcraft to get into my head? Because I specifically went to see her today, and she just up and vanished. So how do I know if you two are the ones ‘after’ me or not?” My throat tightened with the possibility of tears.
With puzzlement, Lexi replied, “No, it is as I have said. She’s been watching you since you were little by the Draconta’s orders. The night I was told that Fenn was returning, I was instructed to help you find the keys so you can return home. I would never betray you. I’m only here for your best interest, Aurora.”
She leaned into me, staring deep into my eyes. I felt another pull from her and then a sort of calmness easing its way into my mind.
“Stop it,” I said. I knew she was doing something to me. I could feel the power. My own energy surged inside of me.
“Stop what?” she asked, never moving from my eyes as a faint green glow emerged from her hands. “Sedatum,” she whispered softly. I thought about pulling my own gaze from her, but I couldn’t. Panic rushed through my blood.
This is it, this is it. I’m done for
.
“Get out of my head!” I yelled. A surge of energy burst out of me. I felt my hair standing up like static electricity. When I re-opened my eyes, I saw a blue glow fading from my hands.
I looked back at her, almost scared to see the damage I may have caused, but saw only amazement written all over her face. Both her hands were bracing her temples as she steadied herself in her seat.
“You’re extremely powerful, Aurora,” she noted, mystified. “That was a really hard spell to counter, and you literally threw me from your mind. Without chanting, I might add. I’m really sorry if I invaded your space. I just want you to be comfortable with me, not afraid.” She was smiling like I had done something right and not just knocked the shit out of her mentally. Her smile was contagious as I felt my own twist up.
“I’m sorry. This is just a lot to digest. I mean, I saw your mother and then she disappeared. I wasn’t expecting her daughter to show up.”
“About that, she had to leave. She’s not supposed to interfere with your fate under His orders, but the Dragon King felt differently. And she agreed with him. So she came and stayed as long as she could, before He found out.”
“Who’s ‘He’?”
“His name is Astral. The one I was telling you about who sent you over here. He’s the one who wants you to have a choice. If I’m being honest,” she leaned in to me, her voice dropping to a whisper, “I think he wants you to stay. He doesn’t want you to get hurt. Sweet right?” Her voice picked back up as she practically bounced with giddiness.
“Astral?” I said, testing the name. It sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t place a face with it. “So she’s not hurt then? Zordon didn’t get to her?”
“No, she’s fine. I saw her before I ported here,” she reassured.
I sighed. “What exactly is a port?”
“A portal is a way of transportation. It’s like moving through time, and it’s how we get around where we’re from. It’s actually…” her words trailed off as she stared in the other direction, worry taking over her pixie-like features.
“What are you staring… Oh,” I said as I looked in the same direction, “that’s just Mr. Creepy. He actually had this amulet…wait a dang minute. You know who he is, don’t you?” I asked. She nodded and got out of the car. I responded quickly and shut the engine off, following closely behind. This couldn’t be good. “Is he the one who’s after me?”
I don’t think she was even paying attention to me as she sniffed at the air and said, “He must have followed my mother’s my portal.” She noticed my confused face and quickly explained. “When you open a portal, even though it closes up, its trace can be followed minutes or even hours after, depending on how strong your magic is.”
A sudden blast of light along with a rumbling earth shudder came from the room in front of us. I stumbled back a couple of steps. Whatever that was, it was so powerful it had blown the door open with a loud crack.
“Oh fizzle, he just ported,” said Lexi rushing up to the open door, hinges creaking from years of use. There was a weird electrical smell coming from the faint breeze that seeped through the gap of the doorway. Lexi walked up to the edge of it and flattened herself against the wall, peering in from the side. It was weird seeing his door open for anyone to glance into. So unlike him.
“Aurora, go back to the car.” She was already in a fighting stance. Curiosity overruled and I followed behind as she ventured into his room. I couldn’t help but feel a little triumphant after he ended our conversation today. Now I was inside his home, spying on him.
But I was instantly freaked out. Pictures of me covered every visible surface. “He’s been here a lot longer than just a few days, Lexi. These pictures go back to when Fenn and I first got here.” I started backing out of his motel room, trying not to lose my lunch. I guess I got what I deserved for being curious.
Just as I reached the door she called, “He must’ve felt my arrival and ported, that Rotten Harpy. I can still smell the trace of his port.” Her nose lifted in the air, taking in that awful electrical wire smell. I was uncontrollably shaking my head no. I guess subconsciously I thought that by doing that it would make this go away somehow. But it didn’t. This was real, and it was too much to accept.
“I can’t…” I said, interrupting her. “Look Lexi, I’m going to go take a shower. I can’t…” I gave the room another once over, all the private moments of my life pinned up for prying eyes. “I can’t deal with all of this right now.” Realms, creepy men, portals, it was just too much. My brain was fried. I felt so helpless, so out of control. Dizziness crept in. I braced the rail of the stairs on my way up hoping I wouldn’t fall.
“Okay, Rory.” I stopped in my tracks at this term of endearment. Not just anyone called me Rory. I hadn’t told her to call me Rory. She must’ve picked it up from my missing best friend while she and her mother “watched” me. Everyone seemed to have “watched” me. And that did it for me. Anger flared up. I was tired of everyone prodding into my life, a life that everyone knew about but me.
“Fenn called me that, as I’m sure you already know. Don’t…ever,” I said through a low growl. I paused, suddenly unsure if I really wanted to unload on her or not. Instead, I continued up the stairs. Nothing good would come from what I had to say and she was not a verbal punching bag.
Of course she followed me up the stairs and into the room asking, “You really love him, don’t you?” She was like a bug, a bug that I wanted to smack.
I turned to face her and said, “I’m going to take a shower now. Help yourself to whatever you see in here. Please do not bother me unless it is an extreme emergency. I will be done in a while. And yes, I do love him. He was there with me throughout my entire life. He helped me become the person that I am and then he had to leave. Because of me, I might add, which doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.” Again she looked confused.
I grabbed some clothes from my dresser and headed to the bathroom. I wouldn’t be coming out for at least an hour. Turning the water to scalding hot, I stepped in, anxious to feel the comforting burn. I let it all go for the moment. There was no point in trying to decipher anything so I closed my eyes as the mist filled my pores. Chapter 22
Holy Cow!
I KEPT TO MY WORD and stayed in the bathroom for at least an hour. After the water ran cold, I put comfy clothes on and opened the door to face Lexi.
For a brief moment I thought I saw Fenn’s face, my heart jumping with hope, but then I realized it was Lexi’s face I was seeing. She was sitting on the edge of my bed with my Oraculus resting on her lap.
“What are you doing with that?” I felt immediately shaky and walked over to her with nervous hands, energy firing up inside me. My eyes never left hers as I leaned in and gently pulled it off her lap, prepared for anything that might come. I didn’t want anyone touching my Oraculus—even if her mother had given it to me.
“We should talk about this, Aurora. Do you even know what that really is?” I shook my head no and braced my book to my chest like it was the last good burger on Earth. Eve had never gone into detail about it, but I knew it was as connected to me as Zordon. “You know how everyone has their own Oraculus, written on the day of their birth,” she eased, “well, your case is different. Your Oraculus is only half of a whole. The other half is in the Hall of Knowledge, and it has an owner,” she said gravely. She didn’t have to say it out loud. I knew whose it was.
“Zordon,” I stated, sitting down next to her.
“Yes. I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but I felt it’s something you should know, something you should prepare for. Have you ever seen him before?”
“I have, yes, but not lately.”
“That’s odd. But it’s not like anyone knows exactly what an Oraculus can do for someone who has it in their possession. Especially in your case since your Oraculus was split in half-the other half being Zordon’s. Our law says that no one can see their own Oraculus until they die and cross over into the Hall of Knowledge. So how did you manage to see him?”
“I saw him once with Eve. She told me to say Apparatio while holding my Oraculus, so I did, and somehow, I saw him again. That was the last time.”
“That word, Apparatio, is a spell Seers use in our realm to see what The Fates want to show them. What happened?”
I filled her in, delighted that she was interested. Maybe she would be able to help me figure it out. I told her about Zordon and Gwenevere and Gabe and all that had happened. When I finished she took a deep breath.
“I’ve heard of Gwenevere before. They say her disappearance was plotted,” said Lexi.
“Plotted? To get away from him?” I asked, hopeful.
“Well yeah. My mother swears that she’s dead, but she said Lady Gwenevere hated Zordon. She was promised to him and had no choice but to marry him.” She leaned in and said in a whisper, “I’ve also heard she was pregnant.”
I looked up, remembering her clutching her lower stomach before she went to jump.
“I think she was,” I admitted. “She was holding her stomach when I saw her.”
“Well, like I said…my mother says she’s dead. It’s one of those things we’ll never know because if Liege Zordon ever found out…he’d kill her himself.”
That’s reassuring
, I thought as I shook my head. What kind of world was I heading back to?
“Open the Oraculus, Aurora,” she instructed.
I did as she said. “This is the language of The Fates. There is no interpreter besides the person who the book belongs to and The Fates themselves. It is your entire life mapped out. Well, not yours because obviously it’s not completed, but everyone else’s is.”
“The book of life pages turn yet unwritten. The canvas to your mortal soul, the connection to your immortal enemy,” I repeated out loud. “That’s what the prophecy means. That’s why I’m connected to Zordon,” I said, excited that I was figuring it out.
“So then you can understand it and connect to Zordon?”
“No. I’ve read it, but I don’t understand a word it says. But I think it does have a way of bringing me to Zordon.” I was flipping through all the pages that did have writing, trying my best to translate it.
“About that,” she coughed, “the owner kind of has to be dead in order to understand it. It’s a condition of The Fates in case something like this happens.
This
meaning when the owner is alive and has the book. You’re not meant to know your fate.”
“Well, that may very well happen.” I broke off thinking about Zordon. “So was Mr. Creepy after me then?”
“Who, Soothe? No, he was the Seer who gave your prophecy,” she answered. “I just wanted to talk to him. He didn’t have to port like that.”
“Wait, his name is Soothe?” I asked, “The same Soothe who set up my bank account?” At least I didn’t have to continue searching for the mysterious Soothe any longer.
“Yes and yes. And he kind of is the reason you are in danger,” she edged.
“Like how much danger are we talking here?” I hedged.
“Like a lot of danger. But don’t worry, Gabe is our insider, and he told my mother before I left that Zordon was onto the fact that you were over here. Gabe is doing everything he can to divert action from being taken.”
“What about Soothe? Why is he here?”
“That’s part of why you’re in danger. You see, he altered the prophecy by keeping a piece to himself. And no one knows what that missing part says. So that left Zordon questioning. In the meantime, Astral sent Soothe over here to hide that pendant, which he apparently failed to do, and to watch over you. Gabe said that Zordon has a Seer working for him called Sayer trying to uncover the missing piece and that he may be able to locate Soothe. This brings us back to the problem. You’re in danger.”
“And what if they find me?” I turned to her, dread growing like a prickly vine.