Everyone I loved was gone. My family was dead. I was alone. I suddenly had no past, as well as no future. The sting of death was trying to catch up with me. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want think about shirking off my mom, or my last angry words to Collin. Guilt gnawed at me constantly. I kept moving, trying to push it away.
Sister Al held a steaming teacup in her hand. She’d given me one too, but mine held steaming cocoa. I inhaled the vapor. Al’s wrinkled skin had a rosy complexion again. She looked worn after the battle, but seeing Jenna Marie—who was her missing boss and best friend—helped her rebound quickly. Jenna Marie’s task had also been to find me; the Prophecy Girl. She determined the location that I would originate almost two-hundred years ago, and waited until I showed up. She had the patience of a saint. No wonder why she was so perky. It turns out that is why the area had so many Valefar and Martis. They were all waiting for me, the Prophecy One to show myself. As if I’d wanted the job.
After Shannon healed me, everyone left quickly. They had to report what happened to the Tribunal in Rome and decide how to proceed. It was clear that I fought for the Martis, but after expecting to destroy me for over two thousand years, it required a lot of paper work to get everyone on the same page. Julia disappeared, taking Eric with her. I didn’t get to hear what he had to say. I assumed he’d be back, begging me to listen. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to, but after what happened with Collin, I was willing to admit that I didn’t know everything. Actually, I was willing to admit that I knew less than I did before all this started.
Al’s voice cut the silence, “So, are we gonna keep ignoring it?”
A sad smile tugged at my lips, “Ignoring what?” It’d been like this every day for a month. I didn’t go to school. I didn’t have to once they found out my Mom died. No one noticed that I’d ditched the field trip, either. Social services left me alone since Al claimed me. I let her. I had no other family. The school didn’t expect to see me again until after Christmas, which was fine with me. So, I spent my afternoons like this; sipping hot liquid with an old lady.
“The prophecy,” she said.
I leaned back into my chair. “I hadn’t thought about the prophecy.” I didn’t want to.
“Well, here’s something you may want to think about. What if everyone was wrong? What if the prophecy didn’t mean what we thought it did?” she asked.
My mouth hung open, as I put my cup on the table. “What are you talking about? Of course it was right. That thing even told me I would be its queen. I know you heard it.” I shivered. That demon scared me. A vivid memory of the sound of its voice, and the smell of its breath, hit me. The realness of that creature made my vision of being the demon queen way too real.
“Yes. I heard it. It said you will be queen.” She paused, sipping her tea. “You know, there is only a single ruler in the Underworld at a time—a king or a queen. The only ruler that I have ever known is Kreturus. His reign spans my lifetime and more. He’s cruel—vile beyond words. Since you have Valefar abilities, you must have noticed the price of his power. Everything is paid in pain, misery, and agony. There is no rest, no peace for his kind.
“But, right now I sit across from a girl, who is part of his lineage, and is more powerful than he ever was—even though she is still young.” She smiled at me, “And the things that have been laying the path to your dark fate are not things that were malicious or evil—they are actions that originated from love and kindness. Ivy, we thought the Prophecy One would be more powerful and more evil than Kreturus. But, how can that be true when the child I see sitting in front of me is you?”
I didn’t know what to say. Tears stung my eyes, and before I could blink one away it rolled down my cheek. “It doesn’t matter what I do, does it? That’s still my fate. There is nothing I can do to stop it. I tried and failed.”
“Ah,” she said, “but perhaps stopping it shouldn’t be the goal?” I wiped the tears from my face and stared at her unbelievingly.
“You think I should just accept my fate? How can you say that? You know what it means. I’ll be trapped in the Underworld, with no friends and no family. I’ll be alone forever, becoming something that I don’t want to be.” My chest felt hollow as the words poured from my heart. My destiny cost me everything. Accepting it meant Mom and Collin died in vain. No, I couldn’t accept it.
“That’s the part that I think we got wrong. It was assumed that you would continue in Kreturus’ footsteps, but the prophecy doesn’t explicitly say that. And I can’t see you becoming the Destroyer, not when you’ve fought so hard to protect the ones you love. Perhaps your destiny involves this dark place, but the person you become is still in your hands.” She sipped her tea.
I stared into my untouched cocoa, “It doesn’t feel like it. It feels like I have no control over anything. And how is a good person supposed to live in Hell? That’s not the way things are.”
“No? Are you sure?” she looked at me through ancient eyes. “I’ve seen some things that make me believe things aren’t as clear as you might think. I recently heard of an evil Valefar boy who saved a Martis girl, twice. Everything we know says that his actions were not possible, but that mark on your head says otherwise. Ivy, would an evil person give his life for you?”
I looked up at her. “No. And I don’t think Collin was evil. He was a slave, forced to do things he didn’t want to. When he resisted, when he refused to hand me over to Kreturus, it cost him his life.” My throat tightened as I spoke. I hadn’t spoken about Collin since the night he sacrificed himself for me.
“And what if he is still alive and waiting in the Underworld?”
My heart pounded. I couldn’t believe she was suggesting it. “You mean… what if he’s still alive? He couldn’t have survived that fall. And if he did… ” I closed my eyes. There was no way he survived the beast at the bottom, if the fall didn’t kill him.
“If he did, you have a good boy in an evil place. You see what I mean? Things aren’t so simple. You for instance, people will say you are evil because you have demon blood coursing through your veins. But, I know you to be a good person. Some may say Collin was a Valefar and evil. But, you also told me that you were bonded to him. There is only one way for that to occur. You both have a bit of the other’s soul. You both performed the selfless act of saving the other by giving a piece of yourself. Selflessness is not evil.” She sighed heavily. “Ivy, what I’m trying to tell you is that your destiny may not change, but the path that takes you there has not yet formed. I suspect your heart will pave your path, and take you where need to go.”
I heard every word she said, but I fixated on one thing. She thought Collin may be alive. “He can’t be alive, Al. I saw the pit. You don’t need to sugarcoat things for me. I know I won’t see him again.”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “When Shannon comes in, ask her about the pit. Ask her what she thinks.”
I shook my head. Shannon was very logical. Her answer would be obvious. “I know what she’ll think. She’ll tell me it’s not possible.”
“What’s not possible?” Shannon dropped her book bag on the floor. She grabbed a bag full of Oreos and a cup of milk. She was still wearing her school uniform. I looked at her, not wanting to say it. My palms were slick. I wanted to ask her. The uncertainty of his death was making me nuts. It was like he disappeared, but I knew better. He was dead. My eyes saw him fall. There was no way he survived. A breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t hope it.
“Do you think Collin could be alive?” Al blurted out.
Shannon straddled a chair, and pulled the Oreos and a glass of milk in front of her. “Well, it is possible. The pit allows things in, but it doesn’t let them out.”
“What do you mean?” My voice shook.
Shannon looked at Al, as if to ask permission to speak of such things to me. Al nodded and Shannon continued, “The sides were black slime and spikes—I know they looked bad. But the story about the pit says that it was made to hold that thing—Kreturus. He had to get down there somehow—without dying. So, it is possible.”
That was the logic I dreaded. Right there. Uncertainty made me restless. It stole the sense of control that I so desperately needed. The clock ticked in the room. For a while it was the only sound I could hear. I stared, seeing nothing, dropping the cookie, floating it in my cocoa. I wished I knew for sure what happened to him. Jagged rocks were bad. But add the big demon at the bottom of the pit as a factor, and there was no hope. Holding out false hope almost destroyed me before. I kept waiting for Apryl to come home, but she never came. This felt so similar. I just couldn’t believe it.
“Being a Seyer sucks,” I stood and dumped the rest of my cocoa in the sink.
“And why’s that?” Al asked.
“I can’t see the one thing I want to see. I just want to know for sure.” I leaned against the counter and looked at Al. “I didn’t get to say goodbye to him either. I wish I told him… anything. The last words I said to him were something along the lines of you suck. I didn’t believe what he said.” I grimaced, trying to hold back tears. I could cry later. “I didn’t know what he was doing. He hid it from me. Even with the bond. It was easier to believe the lies.”
Al answered, “Seyers don’t get to see what they want. Or what they wish. It’s a blessing and a curse. And you’re not just a Seyer. It’s time someone told you that.”
I nodded. “You told me that before. That I had a little of all three.”
“Yup, I did,” Al said, as she cracked her arthritic knuckles. “But it’s more than that. You have strong traits of all three types of Martis. You healed someone who was half dead. Add to the fact that his soul was almost non-existent, and the tiny piece you found was covered in centuries of evil, and it’s amazing that you healed him at all. But you did. You are a powerful healer.” My heart sank. I didn’t want to hear this. It didn’t matter now. “And then during the battle—I watched you fight the Valefar. You hesitated at first, but then you became luminescent as you cut down anything in your way. And I know the demon kiss haunts you. You managed to attack while hearing the Martis cry out around you. Nothing distracted you. You fought like a great warrior.”
“No, I didn’t. I hesitated, because,” I took a deep breath knowing my next words would sound insane. “I didn’t want to kill them. They’re slaves, Al. They have no choice. Every power they were given is laced with pain. Even their conversions—their demon kisses—were scarring on so many levels. No part of them remained unscathed. The demons stole their lives. They got an eternity of servitude with never ending agony. I didn’t want to kill them.”