Chapter 29 - The Secret is Out
-~-Lily-~-
After a few hours in jail the sheriff came back, “You’re free to go.”
“Really?” I asked. “Why?”
“There’s a commotion in town. Everybody in Murera is required to be there.”
What’s going on? I thought to Carter.
I don’t know, but I don’t like it.
We followed the sheriff through town and I quickly saw where everybody was gathered: in the quad. They were gathered in front of the palace where a stage now stood in front of. This isn’t good. This really isn’t good. What are Rolla and Pilote doing?
Carter, please tell me they’re not going to do what I think they’re going to do.
Before we could respond everybody in town gasped. What are they gasping at? I looked around and everybody’s eyes were glued to the palace. They can’t see the palace. Why are they staring at a blank wall? I heard a few people murmur palace and another few mumble how long that building has been there.
“They see it,” Carter said.
“Oh my God,” I replied.
Rolla and Pilote walked out of the palace and stepped on the stage. I think a few people were shocked enough to pass out at that point. What the hell are they doing?! Rolla looked over at us and nodded her head. She did this to free us.
“I think she wants us to go up there,” Carter said.
Carter took my hand and we walked on stage, causing everybody to whisper to themselves.
“What are you doing?” I whispered to Rolla.
She whispered back, “You needed to be freed. I got your message. We couldn’t tell your family without raising suspicion from the sheriff. Pilote and I talked about it and it’s time.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, “It has to be done.”
“Okay.”
She stepped up to the stage and addressed the people, “People of Murera, you do not know me but I am Rolla Carter-Mason. This is my husband Pilote Mason. We are the King and Queen of Murera. We have hidden ourselves from you for two hundred years in hopes that you could live a free life without worry. Lately it has come to our attention that some of you suspected secrets have been hidden from you. You are right. The palace behind us has always been there. It’s been there for over two hundred years, but we used our magic to hide it from you… until now. You have no reason to believe us which is why we’ve asked Lily Carter and Carter Lanson to join us here today. Lily and Carter found us a while ago and we’ve been friends ever since. We’ve told them every secret we have hidden from you. Lily, do you want to address the people?”
I nodded. As scared as I am I know what Rolla is getting at. She needs me to say something because they’ve known me my entire life, but they never knew she existed. I stepped up to the microphone and spoke, “I know some of you are shocked at this news, but I can assure you that it is true. Carter and I both found out about the King and Queen quite a while ago now, and they have told us the history of this city and our people. You need to listen to them because I can promise you that they are not lying.”
“We will offer proof,” Pilote said, “Because that circle all of you have left in the ground is really a statue and a fountain. You avoid stepping in that area of the quad because you would run into the statue.”
Rolla and Pilote joined hands, closing their eyes, and mumbling a spell. I looked around at the people and quite a few of them jumped back as the spell made the statue visible again. At that moment I spotted Brittany and Mike standing near my mom and Carter’s family. Felicity and Dennis were smiling in pride at us, but my mom looked mad; mad and upset. Brittany and Mike on the other hand looked angrier than I’ve ever seen them before. I took a breath before taking my place next to Carter where he reached over and held my hand.
Rolla stepped up to the microphone again, “That statue was made 200 years ago to honor everybody who fought in the world war to defend our people. We are not the only world to exist. Right above our heads exists a world called earth. We are in the United States of America and there are many other people besides ourselves. Carter Lanson here is one of them. He grew up in the United States of America and came down to us later on in life. He decided to move here after he met Lily.”
I looked back at Brittany where she was shaking her head at me. My world is falling into place and crumbling down all at the same time.
“We are known as Tigmas,” Rolla explained, “We are half human and half cat and tiger. We are a mix of the Tigrera and Maror races. We have different abilities than humans and we possess far greater values about love. We are faster, smarter, and have greater senses than most other races to exist. The Tigmas only fall in love and marry once. It is based on an ancient soul mate principle. Tigmas only have one soul mate and once you find them you’ll possess even greater abilities than you already have.”
“We know this is a lot to take in,” Pilote added, “but we’ve put books in every bookstore in Murera. We hope you will all take the chance to get a book and read it. You’ll learn everything we’ve hidden from you.”
“Why are you telling us this now?” someone shouted.
“Because Lily and Carter were being punished for knowing too much,” Rolla answered. “While I don’t blame the sheriff for arresting them they were right about how dangerous it is to know this secret. We cannot go into the world above ours.”
“Why not?” someone else yelled.
“Because they will kill you,” she replied, “That’s why Pilote and I created the secret in the first place. Two hundred years ago Pilote and I fought alongside every single person on that statue for our freedom. The humans and Silthra races hated us. We had to hide for our lives, but we didn’t want to hide forever. We wanted to be free and we had to fight to get it. We won that war but after a hundred years the humans started hating us again. They feared us because of our abilities so became their targets again. We took back the city of Murera and turned it into a hiding place once again. Turns out when we fought the war we forgot to read part of the ancient prophecy about Tigma’s freedom. Pilote and I used our magic to erase your memories. We made Murera its own world so none of you would know another world exists. You wouldn’t feel deprived of freedoms if you didn’t know something else existed. We sealed ourselves off including a force field protection spell so humans cannot enter Murera unless they were already here.”
“We’re telling you now because another war is among us,” Pilote continued, “The ancient prophecy we forgot to read turned out to be Lily Carter. Lily Carter is the secret weapon we need to get our freedom. We’ve now provided you with all the knowledge of our history and our people and the wars. We now ask you for support. If you want to ever leave Murera, if you want to know where our people really come from then we need this freedom. Sign-ups sheets are posted in the schools, libraries, police stations, and in all businesses. Signing up means you’re prepared to fight when needed.”
“We don’t expect an answer now,” Rolla said, “We only want you to go to the book store, take our free books, and read them. Read everything about who you really are and try out your abilities. We’ll have another press conference to answer your questions soon. Until then, an appointment sheet is posted next to the palace if you would like to meet with us.”
Rolla and Pilote turned to go back into the palace but I stopped them, “Wait!”
“What?” They asked.
“Stay out here. They’re going to be really confused and angry at us. If you want them to realize that you’re a really person and that you two really are the King and Queen then stay out here and talk with them.”
“She’s right,” Carter said, “I know you’re not used to it but now’s the time to be social and prove yourselves.”
Rolla smiled, “You’re right. We’ll stay out here.”
“Let’s start with my mom,” I suggested.
I led Rolla and Pilote to my mom and introduced them.
“Lily,” My mom finally spoke after a few moments of silence, “I thought you might be hiding something but I did not know it was like this.”
“I’m sorry mom but I couldn’t tell you.”
“Your name is Carter,” Mom said to Rolla, “Does that mean…”
Rolla nodded, “Yes, we are related. Carter is my maiden name. Our family is royalty. Our family has been on the throne since Tigmas first came into existence.”
“Wow,” Mom said, “That’s… wow.”
“Do you forgive me for hiding it?” I asked her.
She hugged me, “It is not your fault sweetie. It would be a huge shock to me too. I’m sorry you’ve had to hide this for so long. That fight with you and Brittany?”
I pulled away and nodded, “It was about this but mom she knew at first. Those dreams I’ve always had were about Rolla. My dreams were trying to tell me what was really happening and Brittany tried to help me figure it out. The closer I got to the truth the more dangerous it got for her so Carter and I erased her memory.”
“Then the fall out happened,” Mom finished.
I nodded.
“We’ll finishing talking with her,” Rolla said, “but you need to go face her.”
“Yeah I guess I do,” I sighed.
Carter kissed my forehead, “I’ll see you later. I’m going to go talk with my aunt and uncle.”
I walked over to Brittany and Mike where they hadn’t moved an inch. Everybody else in the city was either rushing to the bookstore, yelling at each other over this new topic, or in a huge group waiting to bombard Rolla and Pilote with questions.
“This was the secret wasn’t it?” she asked me.
I nodded, “But there’s something you should know before you yell at me for keeping it from you.”
“Fine, what is it?”
“I did tell you,” I admitted, “I told you everything. The dreams that haunted me my entire life were about Rolla. I asked for your help in figuring it out and then I found Carter and he told me all about the Tigmas and the truth behind Murera. The closer we got to the truth the more dangerous it was for you two. Both of you knew because we trusted you with it, but every time Carter and I had to do a memory spell your memories were tampered with. We kept having to repeat ourselves and your memories were getting so confusing that it really started to affect you mentally. It was too dangerous to keep it up so Carter and I did a spell to erase every memory you had of the truth. That’s when the fall out really happened. I did trust you with this Brittany but the spells were affecting you so bad that it got too dangerous. It was easier to erase your memories of it than to have you and Mike in danger like that.”
“So I knew?” she asked.
I nodded, “Do you really think I wouldn’t trust you? You always knew. I had to erase your memory.”
With tears in her eyes she replied, “I can’t believe you took away my memories.”
“I can put them back if you want,” I said, “I would love to put them back now that Rolla revealed the truth to everybody. I’m sorry but I had to do it and I would never take it back. We have to win this war and get freedom back and I’m the only person that can do that. If we want to win this war then we have to be incredibly careful about who we tell and what steps we take.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, “Then give my memories back to me… right now.”
“Carter!” I called over to him.
He glanced at me and jogged over to me, “What’s up?”
“She wants her memories back,” I said, “Do you remember it?”
He nodded and took my hand. We both closed our eyes and mumbled a spell. We made sure to give back both Brittany and Mike their memories back. It took more energy than I expected though because Carter had to catch me to hold me up when it ended.
“What the hell?!” Brittany exclaimed.
“Do you remember?” I asked her breathing hard.
She nodded, “This is insane. I can’t believe you erased my memories. I also can’t believe I ever thought you were a terrible friend for keeping a secret like that. Of course it was important to keep it a secret.”
“So my friend is back?” I smiled.
She nodded again, “Yeah I’m back.”
“I’m so sorry.”
She shook her head, “You’re the black tiger how can I be mad? You’re important to future of our entire race. You did what you had to do.”
“Mike?” I asked him.
He nodded, “I was never gone. Although it does feel weird having two sets of memories contradicting each other though.”
I laughed.
“Are you okay?” Brittany asked.
I nodded, “The spell just really wiped me out.”
“So what was all that business about the sheriff?” she asked.
“He was onto the secret,” I explained, “and he put Carter and I in jail over it. Rolla and Pilote had to do something to save us and their solution was to tell everybody the big secret.”
“Why now? After everything we did to keep the secret they just tell the world?” she asked.
I shrugged, “It was going to happen soon anyway.”
“Why?” Mike asked.
“I decided to fight in the war. I’ve had history lessons and one training session so far with Rolla while Carter has had lessons with Pilote. While you’ve been… clueless we’ve been busier than we’ve ever been in our lives. I never wanted to hide it.”
“I know,” Brittany said, “and I’m sorry I was like that. It was because my memories were gone. Now that I know the complete truth I can see why you did.”
“We need to go around and calm people down,” I turned to Carter.
He nodded, “They’re kind of freaking out.”
“Tell your parents for me?” I turned back to Brittany and Mike.
They both nodded.
“And Mike, tell your dad we’re sorry. Tell him this secret was the one we were hiding.”
“I will,” he nodded.
“Thank you… both of you.”
Carter held my hand and we turned around to find someone to talk to but everybody was already in a huge crowd waiting for us. We were immediately bombarded with questions that we tried our best to answer. Rolla, Pilote, Carter, and I stayed in the quad for over two hours answering questions and trying to calm everybody down. Even when they calmed down they were still furious with us and I don’t blame them. On the bright side, they did consider Rolla and Pilote their King and Queen. It will take getting used to but most of the people are trying to accept it which means the most. Carter and I finally pulled ourselves away and started walking to his house. Unexpectedly we ran into Selita and Clementine.
“Girl!” Selita hugged me, “You disappeared on me!”
I laughed, “You’re the one on the other side of town.”
“That’s true,” She laughed, “I have to say I suspected a huge secret when you told me the truth about the Carter but I didn’t expect it to be this big. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it so I just pushed it aside.”
“To be perfectly honest I knew you would do that and that’s why I knew I could trust you with that secret. I knew you both would be like that.”
“We only talked to Brittany about it once,” Clementine added, “Then we went back home and got busy with school. It is our last year after all.”
I nodded, “That’s understandable. Did you two come over here for the announcement?”
They both nodded.
“We decided to stay for a couple days though,” Selita said, “We have the next couple days off of school because of this announcement. Rolla and Pilote said they want everybody to take a couple days off to read the history.”
“It’s important,” I told them, “It really is. They’ve been teaching me about it for a while now. We can’t continue if nobody knows.”
“We’ll read it,” Clementine assured us.
“We should hang out though,” I said, “You two can pick up some books but you should come back to Carter’s house. We can teach you what you want to know if you don’t want to read it all.”
“I’m in,” Selita replied, “That’s more fun than reading for two days. Give me his address and we’ll meet you there in an hour. We’ll bring the food.”
I sent her a quick text of his address, “I just sent you his address.”
“Perfect,” She smiled, “See you then.”
“Bye,” I smiled.
Carter and I continued to his house.
I sighed, “That was complete chaos.”
“Don’t you feel better though?”
I smiled, “Yes. We don’t have to hide now. I mean sure we have to hide the war secrets and what our plans are, but we don’t have to hide who we are anymore. We can read our books about the Tigmas and other races and we can practice our abilities and train out in the open without sneaking in the passageways. We’ll still use the passageways obviously because I love them, but before it was only to hide. I hated hiding.”
He put his arm around me and kissed my head, “I know you did. That’s why I’m glad Rolla and Pilote decided to tell the people.”
“Me too. Now we don’t have to worry about keeping up our double lives.”
“No we don’t. Our double lives have officially ended.”