Huntalia-Rosalia's POV:
"A-Asica? How are you still alive?" The words tear at me to say but I can't argue that she's standing there in chains when she should be dead according to what I read up on the kamikaze phoenix spell she used during the round she helped out me and Leila to get to the cabin.
But how did she end up with Amber and the others was my question since she's always kept a low profile so I didn't think that she would have been found as fast as she was. And I wasn't the only one who was confused since I can see Hunter, Ash and Leila all giving the same confused looks as me. All were equally stunned to see her alive, but with a hint of pain in their expressions as well since she was a good friend to both Hunter and Ash but she managed to touch Leila also during their brief time together.
"Why the sullen face sister? I thought you wanted her alive? That you'd do anything to trade places with the pathetic bitch when you realised she was dead?" Amber's voice breaks the spell and I see a dangerous look enter Leila's eyes seconds before Ash gives a dismissive laugh.
"You don't scare us anymore Amber, so I suggest you fuck off before we give you a reason to do so." His tone is calm but it's the same angry calm I saw when he'd been acting to keep me safe when we met before I knew the truth. The one that means you'll never know how he's feeling besides the anger that's all too clear to see since it blocks all other emotions from being seen in his expression.
But Amber refuses to respond to his baiting, instead just giving us all a look that suggests she's happy to wait and bide her time before she decides how and when to kill us. Assuming we manage to outlive the prophecy hanging over our heads that is. And that worries me since every time I see her she seems to be ten steps ahead and that makes her a dangerous enemy to have.
"I know I can't, but I can keep you playing. Keep the game going and I know that terrifies the four of you more now than anything I could do to any one of you in person," Amber's smile is all venom and it makes me feel like she's trying to pull the world out from under my feet. To make me stumble the way she's trying with the others. Because no matter how much we wanted to avoid talking about her - to make her seem like she's disappeared - she's a bigger threat than ever and that terrifies me since it's not us that's to pay the price if we fail. No, that baton's been passed to our kids. People we swore we'd keep safe above all else.
"Stay away from them Amber, this isn't their fight," I try to appeal to her but she seems deaf to reason and that makes me uncomfortable and afraid. Terrified for the people we'd be leaving behind to clean up our mess if what she claimed was to happen occurred. If we were knocked off the board and our kids had to take up the roles we'd been filling for longer than some of us were aware or care to remember. Because we know the stakes better than the others but we'd also had a look into Amber's head before so we knew she wasn't one to back down. Not ever. "Just leave them be and take up your battle with us. After all, we're the ones you have the grudge against. That makes it fair."
"Oh, and I wish I could sister but that's not the rules and you know what happens to people who refuse to play by the rules of the game." As if to punctuate her words Amber drags Becky towards her and I see the young woman flinch as the electricity in the chains thundered through her, remembering how it felt. But she's not over yet. "And it would pay you to remember not to overstep boundaries and break rules. Something you have yet to learn." This time she pulls on Asica's chains and what happened all those years before snaps into place as easily as if I'd seen it before. If I hadn't been so blind.
"You pulled her out didn't you? You were the one we felt watching us when she did the spell to let us through so were able to find us?" Leila's voice is hollow and her eyes find mine across the clearing where the other two remain confused since they hadn't been there. But I had. I had and I knew exactly what she meant. "You were the one tailing us and therefore the one who attacked her. The one who came earlier pretending to be Rosa to try and change the destination of the portal. But it didn't work because she knew you weren't Rosa so you couldn't convince her. Is that why?"
"It doesn't matter why little wolf, all that matters is what came out of it. And that was the easy way to figure out the coordinates to the cabin you'd spelled that had you not involved the little blonde bitch over here would have kept you safe. See that's your downfall, trudging others and not taking the time to consider all your options. That's what lead you to Asica's easy option of a way out and led me to her. So it is your fault she's with me I guess. Same with Becky."
"No," Leila's voice is choked and I can see the sadness and anger in her eyes. "No, you do not get to talk about Becky. Not like that or ever since she had nothing to do with this other than when you pulled her into this with your sick and depraved schemes that almost killed her the same way you tried to off the four of us during the last round. Just as you'd try to do to our kids if we let you have the chance."
"Oh, you would have to let me. If I wanted the little brats dead they would be. But I need them alive for now and they do provide me with some entertainment with them scrambling around to figure out what the four of you have been hiding. Unless...." She trails off then, scrutinising each one of us in turn with a wicked grin curling up one side of her face. "That is unless you have all come clean to them about what happened in the past before they were born. But I can't see you telling the whole truth. No, you kept something from them didn't you.....you kept your prophecy from them in the hopes that they wouldn't find out what will happen to you before they finish this for you since you'll be unable to do it what with your leaves of absence."
"Which is a polite way to say that you're after killing us to speed up the game right?" Hunter asks her, speaking up for the first time since Amber had arrived with a low tone that makes it difficult to read what he's thinking. Sneaking a glance his eyes are steady but I can see the anger behind that presented front since I'd known him way too long. "That is what you're saying aren't you? That if the prophecy is to be believed then you'll knock us off the board by force and ensure that we can't figure out how to stop you before they have to finish it."
"Oh but they already have to since they hold most of the power. One that's massively unstable by the way, I'd have that checked out before it runs through them and they die. Would be such a shame to lose it all in the crucial final round. Especially since you won't be there to pick up the pieces." Amber gives us one last smile before disappearing and taking Asica and Becky with her, both pairs of eyes watching us with an imploring plea to not give in to Amber's whims and demands.
But it's not easy, especially with the four almost comatose and Amber's words ringing in our ears. It would be a shame to lose it all in the crucial final round, especially since you won't be there to pick up the pieces. Her words are barbed but not just for me since it implicates all the people who had been fighting alongside us and all those who would have to carry on when we were gone. All the people we'd be leaving to clear up what we couldn't before our clock ran down and we were out of moves.
"This is it isn't it?" Leila speaks again in the silence that followed Amber's departure since we were all too wrapped up in our thoughts to speak aloud. "This is when our clock finally runs down and the targets on our backs get shot isn't it." She shivers and draws closer to Ash who tries to reassure her but that's difficult since I can read the fear in my friend's eyes as clear as day. "Our time's running out. And this time when she hits us we're gone. Dead and knocked - sorry forcefully pushed - off the board."
"The targets are back on our backs that much I'm certain of," I replied to her, trying to keep my fear down. "But we still need to speak to the Council about what to do with the kids. They're not waking up and if they stay like this for too long we won't be able to save them. Letting her win but losing them at the same time. And to her game as well which is something that even before that vow of not involving them until we have to we promised would never happen as long as we could do something to prevent it. So we need to go and we need to go now." Glancing up at Hunter he nods before those of us who had said we'd come to see the Council stepped toward the boundary of the grove, ready to face them and ask what we came to.
"Who asks to speak with us? Please state your names to the Council."
"Rosalia Mallory-Nadir, Asher Ladouceur, Leila Briar and Hunter Ladouceur," I replied, using our names before we were married since that may be the ones they have on record. "We've come to you to ask about our kids, the ones who are specially gifted. They require your help and fast since we are running out of time." I wait on tenterhooks when the silence follows me, having heard rumours that the council didn't answer to anyone other than those they chose. "Please, we have nowhere else to go since we don't know what is wrong with them."
"Enter and we will attempt to understand." The voice of a woman greets us only for me to see around the grove a set of four thrones, all occupied by women who looked to be immortal and beautiful. Spying them I bow as is respectful and see the one who had greeted me smile. "Welcome, I trust your companions are to be trusted as well."
"Yes, Adria they are," Hunter responds and I see her smile. "Thank you for offering your assistance, the same to you Chasina, Leola and of course the lovely Rieka. We can't thank you enough for giving your time to help us, especially when you are so busy trying to contain the war that Amber and her side have been trying to force for many years."
"You flatter us Hunter but that doesn't help with figuring out the problem that your children are facing. Unless it is connected." Reika gives him a look up and down but Hunter doesn't move, showing her clearly what he needs to without words. "They are your children meaning they have taken over the roles you four did when you were born. I see now what the issue may be but not why it's taken you so long when we saw your parents long before this critical age."
"You mean you knew us before we came?" The words slip out without me meaning them to but I can see how the four wise women look at me with puzzled expressions. "My apologies, I am merely worried for my daughter and her cousin, not to mention their mates who are trapped where we can't reach them. But I do have to ask what you mean by critical age."
"You have heard the rumour that this power could be used to tip the balance in the war your partner talks of correct?" Leola takes over explaining and I nod to her, not sure what she's meaning. "Well, for that to happen they - those who carry the power - have to reach eighteen and have not connected physically with their SoulBound and Mated other halves before that birthday. If one or both are done then they cannot be used in that way, though it is only certain if they are to have completed both."
"Meaning what exactly?" I hear Ash ask before he holds Dana closer the way I can see Hunter does with Kalli. "Leola, what does that mean for the kids? Is there a way to save them? Even with what you know about what's to come."
"And it is coming, faster than you can understand since I see very little time left for you four to have an impact on the board." She pauses before conferring with the others. "I - we - believe the power malfunction to be due to outside influence. Meaning someone has access to the power inside them since they don't know how to control it nor have they cemented the Bonds between them, thus opening them up to outside influences taking control. I suggest you keep them safe in their own lands - meaning you send them back to where their primary species lives - but train them together. Until it is imperative they remain together I suggest you keep them apart to avoid blowing up the world. As for how to wake them, use this," Reaching behind her she offers us four vials of a reddish-purple liquid with specks of gold dust and a moonstone blue substance floating inside. "It should wake them soon and keep the power under temporary lockdown at least until you can figure out how to keep them safe in the long run."
I nod and take the vials from her, feeling how cold her skin was on contact. A vampire perhaps. "Thank you for your time and wisdom. We can't thank you enough." I bow respectfully and feel the others do the same. "We are forever in your debt when it comes to figuring this out and I hope we manage to make you proud."
"Do what you can in the exceedingly short amount of time you have left Rosalia Ladouceur and keep the kids and their friends apart unless necessary - the four from one another especially- until the power balances out. Do that and watch your back, because someone wants you dead and they're very close to managing to carry it out."
Swallowing down the hard lump in my throat I nod to Leola, Reika, Adria and Chasina for one last time before we all turn around and begin the long trek back to the palace where the others had gone back to wait once we'd gone in, Leola's words of warning echoing in my head constantly the longer we walked in silence the threat all too clear. Especially when combined with Amber's last warning.
Watch your back, because someone wants you dead and they're very close to managing to carry it out. That was the warning from Leola and the rest of the Council but I couldn't help but think that it sounded oddly and scarily like the last words I'd heard Amber whisper in our minds before she vanished that last time: watch out you four, your times up and we're coming for you. Tick tock. Tick tock....
Days Later - Almost A Month On
It's been almost a month and we're still not quite home yet, the portal being about a day's journey away. We'd given the kids the magic tonic as Leola had suggested and slowly they were waking up, something that made the four of us feel relieved since we'd been afraid at least once that they wouldn't make it long enough to survive. But then when they did that opened up a whole new issue of how to tell them what we'd heard and found out. What was going to happen?
"We still don't know when it will happen. It could be next week, next month, or next year. Hell, it could even be the next century or millennia, Rose. we don't need to stress about it. Not when we can focus on giving them a normal life for the last few months before they have to get involved. Let's do what we promised for as long as possible. Why don't we? Stick to what we said?"
"And if they start asking questions, which by the way knowing Kalli and Dana they definitely will?" I fired back at her when we'd stopped to gain our bearings and rest for a few hours. "Look, Lei, I know where you're coming from but I also know that we can't keep them from it forever. Look where that got us last time with them going looking for answers without us and ending up in Amber's clawed clutches for half a month only to come back on death's door since she let Heidi and Angel loose on them? I - I can't risk it. Not with Kalli or Dana. they're too important to the survival of all this. So I don't know what to do."
"I suggest we do as Leila said, keep them out of it besides the training and give them the normal life we promised them," Ash replies as we continue to walk where the magic seemed so potent that it tightened the air around us. " I say we do as we suggested and make out that we've got this all handled for as long as possible before we have to tell them after they turn eighteen and connect with Kessal and Braeden. That way we can keep them safe and keep Amber off our backs."
"Assuming we get to live that long," I mumble, resting my head on Hunter's shoulder and looking over at Kalli's peacefully sleeping face. "Sorry to be melodramatic but I can't shake the feeling that what Leola said was right: our clock's almost up, how long do we have left? How many moves? When is it over?" I hate feeling like this but I also know that if I didn't figure it out - the feeling of being watched - then we'll never move forward with how to make sure that we can do as much as possible to ensure that the kids are kept out of this until we planned to tell them before. "Please tell me you guys understand and support me on this. I can't do this alone without you."
Ash sighs, "Of course, we believe you, Rose, you're one of the most level-headed and strong people I know. If something's bothering you then it needs to be dealt with but is that the best way to do it? Honestly? We have a chance to keep them out of it all a little longer and given what we've all gone through - before and after we met - I feel like that's nicer to them. Fairer to them knowing what's coming for the rest of their lives until they either beat Amber or lose and have to deal with what happens next." When he says that Ash goes a little pale and I flash back to how he looked before we set off to speak to the Council, wondering what had him looking so spooked since he never explained. Sharing a look with Leila I can see she's had the same idea but before either of us can ask him to explain his frightened look he takes a breath and closes his eyes, only when he opens them and starts talking the look vanished. odd. But I find I can't focus on that when he starts talking again, his words stealing all my attention. "Look Rose it's only fair we try to do what Leila said and keep them out of it for as long as we can, however long that is. To give them a normal life for a few more months before it all implodes." Now he gives me the look I'd been offering the others before but I don't argue with him since I know his words are right, even pushing aside the weird look he'd given before since it was clear that he wasn't going to explain it or even acknowledge he'd given it. at least for now until one or more of us could ask him later depending on who besides me and Leila had spotted it since it was so fleeting I could have almost convinced myself I hadn't seen it if not for the fact that it was the same one he'd made before when we'd set off those months ago to see the Council. Weird, but once again he continues talking, the action serving to steer my thoughts back on target. Reminding me of what we still had to do. to hide. "We can do that and just be vigilant for threats to the palace since that still seems to be the location of the prophecy. It'll be possible. We just have to work together."
"Ok," I relent and run a hand through my hair with a tired look in my eyes, fully dropping the issue of his weird look into the distance minutes before at least for now until I could both process it and find a time to ask him about it at a later date in a better place where he would be less likely to and be capable of running away and not answering my questions about it and what it was linked to. Where it would be harder for him to disappear or ignore my questions about it before I had an answer. "Ok but only because I know what happens when people get pulled into this and they deserve a shot at normal even with who their parents are before they have to take over from us. I just hope we have long enough with them to help before Amber knocks us off since I'm almost certain she's still on the path to do that."
"Yea, that's what I got from the Council too," Leila replies as we keep walking where we'd set off when Ash had been talking to me before. "I think they know when it's coming and are trying to warn us that it's soon. Too soon for us to even see it coming. I wonder what that means?" She sounds analytical but I can hear the fear in her voice all too easily. "I wonder if it's possible to find out when it would come, to try and figure out how to deal with it if we can't prevent it."
I sigh then, partially knowing what Leila means since I can count on more fingers than I have the number of situations I've been in during this sick excuse of a game. Situations where I wish I'd known what was about to happen so I could try and make that one different choice. That one different choice so I could try and change the outcome. But then would it be fate if we knew what was to come, and could we deal with the pain that knowing would inevitably cause, especially if we couldn't change it?
"Part of me doesn't want to know, even with the reasons you gave," I whisper to Leila then since the other two had drifted over to one another to talk, leaving us carrying Dana and Kalli since the other two had to carry Kessal and Braeden after the others had gone back to their home realms as per the Council's advice. Frowning, Leila looks over at me and I sigh, seeing the outline of the moonshine portal knowing that we're nearly home. "I know what you mean but what if we knew but could still do nothing to prevent it? Would you want that knowledge in your head somewhere that Dana could find it? Would you want to know that or just hold onto the hope that it's a long way away so you don't have to think about it all the time?"
I know my words hit home with her since she's always been one to hold onto negative memories given how long it took all of us - though especially Ash - to break the mental cycle she had when she came to us and joined our little group. To break the cycle that her old pack had instilled in her so deep that on more than one occasion I was afraid we'd never break it out of her. But that doesn't mean I like hurting her since that's what cruel people do and I'd never let myself stoop that low as to hurt the people I care about in that way. Especially not people who don't deserve it. Especially not people like Leila. She sighs again as the portal draws closer, the two of us hanging back to talk. "I get what you mean but what if we knew and could change it? Or if we didn't know and later found out we could have changed it? Wouldn't you want to have known then?"
"Even if we were too late?"
"Even then," Leila gives me a sad smile and then disappears into the portal with me following closely after. Wondering what she was thinking about that had her so sad that it looked like her whole world had shattered in front of her eyes. Looking like she had nothing left and had given up. Looking like she was gone.
Days Later
Once on the other side of the portal, it had been a quick trip home and the kids had recovered quickly, though they were disappointed to have to be kept apart they managed it fairly well. But that did little to ease mine, Hunter's, Leila's or Ash's paranoia that someone or something was out to get us. That we were in danger. And it didn't let up the longer we tried to ignore it or confront it.
"I wish this feeling would stop, it's making me paranoid - hell it's making us all paranoid - and the kids are worrying." Leila sighs where she was sitting cuddling up to Ash the way she'd been doing ever since we'd got back. The two were barely apart and I know Hunter and I were the same. "I wish it was normal and we could have a normal life but something tells me we are running out of time."
"If we haven't already," I mumble, not realising until it was too late just how right I was. About how right I was and about how little time we had left before it was all over.