“He’s creating an army,” Ava said. “He’s getting people to sign up so he has a host of followers that’ll do whatever he tells them to, both inside the prison and in the outside world once these kids graduate. The bigger The Mission grows, the more people the Warden has to dispense to do his will.”
“The question is, what do we do about it?” I asked.
“We can’t stop The Mission,” Kallie said. “But part of the Warden’s plan involves finding those keys, so we’ve got to unite them first. I’m still working on the next clue.”
I paced around the room. “I had a thought. We keep hearing about Darke Island history in our classes. Professor Jobe covered it in Criminal Justice today. What if the Warden’s teaching it onpurpose? If he wants to use us to find the keys, perhaps he thinks we’ll find information in the island’s history.”
“It’s definitely a good place to start,” Kallie agreed. “What did Jobe cover?”
I went over the history lesson with my friends. There wasn’t really much, so the conversation was short.
“That can’t be all he said,” Alistair insisted once I finished.
“That’s all the information I was given,” I replied.
“The Warden’s twisting the history!” Alistair cried.
“It’s… wrong?” I wondered.
“Not exactly,” Alistair said. “But it’s missing important details— namely, theElves. Eddie taught me all about their history here on Darke Island, and it was super important.”
My heart ached at the mention of Eddie, and Oberi gave a sad noise. My connection to Eddie had grown so weak, I wasn’t sure he was still out there. I thought of all the times Eddie had tried to tell me about Forevermore, and Elvish history in general. He’d given me so many dates, I couldn’t keep track of the information, and I hadn’t retained any of it. I’d been fighting so much with Ava last semester, and been so depressed because of it, that I mostly blocked Eddie out whenever he tried to tell me something important. I mentally kicked myself for not paying closer attention.
“What do you know about the Elves’ history?” Ava asked curiously.
Alistair cleared his throat. “Listen up, because this is going to be a full course on Darke Island history— therealhistory, this time.”
Alistair wasn’t the kind of guy to cut a lecture short, so I knew we’d be here for a while. I took a seat on the bench we used for weightlifting, settling in for a long lesson.
“Our story begins eight-hundred years ago,” Alistair began. “As you know, the Elves and the fae once lived together in a magical realm called Edinmyre. As their numbers grew and resources dwindled, war broke out amongst the two races. In order to save the Elves, their goddesses, Idril and Caralyn, offered them a place of refuge and a purpose in a new land. The Elves were forced out of their city of Ithriel and retreated to Earth. The goddesses portaled them to Dark Islandthroughthe Elven gate here on the island, and made them protectors of the gate, giving them seven keys. The purpose of these keys were so the races could commune with the gods together to resolve conflict.”
“Why seven keys, though?” Marcus wondered. “There weren’t seven major supernatural races back then. Witches didn’t exist until the 1400s.”
“Seven is the most powerful magical number,” Alistair said. “Back then, the Elves tried to create the first United Supernatural Union, in order to unite the existing races so they could use these keys together. Angels, merfolk, fae— they all came together. The Elves invited leaders from all races to come commune with the gods. For a time, the racesdidunite, and the Elves remained caretakers of the keys and the gate, which was the only way for supernaturals to maintain their connection with the divine.”
“That couldn’t have gone over well with the fae,” Kallie theorized.
“Things went well for a while,” Alistair said. “The Seelie and Unseelie fae were in a civil war, so they left the Elves alone, feeling like they’d already won by driving them out of Edinmyre. But tensions continued amongst the fae, and they were banishing their own people to Earth for hundreds of years. By the 1600s, the fae had been cast out of Edinmyre by their own gods to Earth, as punishment for all the infighting. Their portal opened in Europe, which is where they settled to form their country of Malovia. The Elves were barely an afterthought to the fae, because they were so focused on building up their own infrastructure.”
“So where were the Elves at this time?” Chancey asked.
“On Darke Island,” Alistair answered. “But they didn’t call it that. It was Forevermore, their safe haven. If it was anything like Eddie described… oh, it sounded wonderful! The island was nothing like it is today— cast in shadow and darkness. This place was rumored to be beautiful, radiating sunshine and flowing with waterfalls. It was a paradise on Earth due to the Elves' magic.”
“How did things go so wrong?” Marcus asked.
“Things changed in the supernatural community,” Alistair continued. “For four hundred years, the races were on good terms. Then the fae came to Earth, all while the witches were gaining traction as a new magical race, and the Elementai were gifted their powers by their ancestors. The angels didnotlike new supernatural races coming in on their turf.”
“They’d certainly see the Elementai as a threat,” Ez said thoughtfully. “We weren’t like the witches. We didn’t start with one family and grow our numbers over time. The Elementai were a group of five Indigenous tribes who came together to form one singular tribe, in order to protect themselves from colonizers. The Anichi tribe was forced out of their home when the Spanish began colonizing Central America. They came together with the Toaqua, Nivita, Koigni, and Yapluma tribes, who were forced west from their homes and into Northern California. It was when they bound together that the ancestors gifted them powers of the elements to protect themselves, and made them caretakers of all magical creatures. They got their powers all at once, which means their numbers, along with their magical creatures, were suddenly a major threat to other supernatural societies.”
“Exactly,” Alistair agreed. “Things turned hostile when the witches and the Elementai petitioned to join the Union. The fae took this as a threat, because they knew witches were the only race who could counteract their own magic. The Elves suggested splitting up the keys amongst the races to show they were united. They believed no race should control them all, and that it was beneficial for everyone to share power. But the angels felt that they were a chosen community, and their race should hold their own keyanda key for underrepresented supernatural communities. The Elves disagreed, and people began fighting, trying to steal the keys for themselves so they could have control over the Elven gateway and the afterlife. Legend says the Unseelie Fae got a hold of three keys, which were intended for the witches, fae, and Elementai.”
“Which have been found,” I said. “The races must’ve got them back from the Unseelie, because we have all three keys, passed down through the generations.”
“That makes sense, since the Elementai had ties to the Unseelie Fae,” Kallie said.
“What do you mean?” Ava asked.
“Arthur Cedrick,” Kallie reminded her. “The Unseelie Fae who allied with the Elementai? Our shared ancestor?”
