The Seven Heroes of Erde

Ember

Chapter Sixteen

Ember

Verity passed the book to Ember. Judging by Ranulph's reaction, it was pretty important. Ember opened the book and read over the contents slowly. When she got to the signatures at the bottom of the page, she saw one name: Rose.

Her heart skipped a beat. "My mom was- she- you KNEW HER?" Grief overwhelmed her as her eyes welled up with tears.

A tear rolled down Ranulph's cheek. "You look just like her." He leaned in and put his arm around her. Ember sobbed into his shoulder, shaking with sadness. She didn't care if he was a stranger. It was nice that someone shared her pain for once.

Finally, Ranulph pulled away. Ember wiped the tears from her eyes and took a shaky breath. The others looked solemn, and maybe a little scared. "Rose was my mother's name," she explained. "My dad always told me she was part of something bigger."

"And what is that 'something bigger'?" Evander asked.

"Well, fighting the Shades, of course," Ranulph answered.

"How do you know we know about the shades?" Crystal asked skeptically.

"Well, I didn't know for sure until just now."

Ember and a few others chuckled; Crystal stood awestruck.

"How come you stopped fighting?" Maha asked.

It was then that Ember realized how out of place she looked at the table. Sure, Ember was technically the eldest, but Ember had a relatively normal life growing up. She could tell the others had been forced to grow up. Even Janet had some maturity beyond her age. Crystal, a young assassin. Keyne, drafted military. Ditto, with unusual power. Janet and Evander, young and forced into this charade. Verity was clearly inexperienced.

Ranulph looked at Maha softly and answered, "We didn't plan to, but life took its course." He sighed heavily. "We were defeated. All six of us. I was the only survivor."

Ditto frowned. "All six of you?"

Ranulph nodded. "Six. Speaking of which, which of you share the same power?"

Maha nodded at Keyne. "He's my brother."

"No one else has the same power," Ditto said, catching Ranulph's look when Maha didn't continue. "Ember has Fire. Evan has Earth. Dean and Kaitlyn have Air. Kathryn has Water. Jocelyn has Nature. Robyn has Ice." She pointed to each in turn. "And I have Mimicry."

Ranulph's eyes widened. "Truly? You have the power to copy?"

Ditto smiled awkwardly. "It's not that great." She opened one palm and held fire. She looked to a flower pot full of dirt, and suddenly, a dandelion bloomed in its center. Is she showing off, or does she not know that she shouldn't tell everyone that? Ember thought irritatedly.

"But why are you here? Shouldn't you be carrying out your delegation? Rumor has it that you were sent to bargain land." Ranulph asked.

"It's... complicated," Ditto answered. "And I was also sent to learn some new magic."

"We've got the time," Ranulph replied, leaning back in his chair.

Ditto clearly hesitated.

"No disrespect to you, sir, but we're not sure if we can trust you with this information," Verity interrupted.

"Oh, so now you don't trust him? Where was that logic when you followed a complete stranger into his house, dragging the rest of us along with you?" Crystal snapped at Verity.