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Lena shrugs and then shakes her head. Her elegant brows furrow as she thinks for a second. “I know there’s magic, but none of us really know where it came from. These are myths the town tells but are they accurate? I don’t know. Seems improbable but then again, so do a lot of things that have happened here.”
Lena’s eyes drop back down to the book.
“It’s said that an Axis is made up of eight individuals, four couples that symbolize the four courts of Fairy. Others say they are the four corners of the earth, the four seasons, the four directions. Maybe all of them, maybe just one of those things.
“There’s a lot of conflicting information and most of the texts I have could be labeled fairy tales or folklore. The texts are journals or documents that local historians compiled, some from over three-hundred years ago. Others are newer interpretations of the lore. In the older ones especially, the writing is very metaphorical, so it’s hard to know how much is true and what is just a writer’s embellishment.” She points to the northern part of the compass. “This is known as the Boreas.”
The book shows a man with a long beard and wings. There’s a woman twined around his body cloaked in furs that billow out behind her in an implied wind and a goblet tipping out liquid in her hand. “Boreas represents winter, fierceness, passion. This couple’s associated with alchemy and manipulation of the elements.”
A zip of awareness tingles at the base of my neck. Alchemy. Didn’t I use that word with Davis the other day? Lena’s finger trails down the page to the southern point on the compass. The couple drawn there is naked, their heads thrown back, but it’s hard to tell if it’s in pain or pleasure.
“This is Notus, which represents summer, heat and fire. The magic associated with Notus is enchantment and premonition.”
Her finger drags to the western point on the map, to the couple cloaked in blooming flowers. Her hand lingers over the image like she has a special fondness for this season. “Zephyrus is considered spring, which is about rebirth and creation. The magics associated with Zephyrus are life and shadow magic. The last is Eurus. Sometimes considered the unlucky east wind, but this pair gets a bad rep. Fall brings a change of wind, cool weather, the dying of crops, but you can’t have the renewal of spring without the harvest in the fall.”
The couple on the western point of the compass are swirled in shadows. “Conjuring and transformation are the magics associated with Eurus.”
Lena takes a deep breath, her eyes still locked on the page in front of her.
“That is a lot of information.” I lean forward to look at the drawings more closely, but they lack definition. I don’t know what else I’m trying to find within the images, but nothing is leaping off the page screaming, hey, here are more answers to all your questions.
Lena smiles and nods. “There are many legends about this island, and if you dig deeper into the mythology and lore of the Fae, you can find all kinds of information. Some are similar stories that speak of the four courts, or they may be called the four corners or even the four pillars. Davis might not have said much about the Axis, but that’s because he doesn’t know much. He doesn’t want to know. None of our past experiences with an Axis have been pleasant.”
Lena takes a deep breath and closes her book, moving it back to the shelf where she pulled it from. There’s a small bench in front of the window, also covered in books, but there’s enough space for Lena to sit down. Her gaze is fixed out the window as she continues. “Your mom and Davis’s, my dad and the others, they tried to form an Axis, but something happened. I don’t think they had enough magic and things went… wrong.”
“Why would they try to form an Axis? What’s the point?”
“There was a man who came to town and brought them together. He promised power and God only knows what else. He manipulated the group, convincing them to form an Axis, but you can’t trick nature. None of them were very powerful, that much I know and maybe that’s the reason they weren’t meant to form this unit.”
“How did he do it? And why?”
“I don’t know exactly. My mom would never talk about it and asking my dad would be pointless. He’d never share anything about what happened back then with me or Rhys.” Lena’s eyes lose focus and shadows swim over her eyes. They’re the oddest blue, so brilliant that they almost appear to be violet. Rhys’s eyes are the same, and it’s easy to see how they could almost be mistaken for some Fae creatures themselves.
“None of us really know, but we all suspect dark magic. The only thing we know is that things sort of imploded, and the lives of the Axis members fell apart.”
“Davis told me he grew up knowing about magic. Did your parents teach you as well?”
Lena’s red mouth opens and closes as though she doesn’t know what to say. She inhales deeply, her fingers gripping the spine of the book next to her. “My parents never really talked about magic. My mom left when we were little, and my dad is… not one to share memories.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. I’m shit at thinking through things before I speak. Usually stuff just gets blurted out the moment it pops into my brain. Now I feel like an ass because I don’t know what to say to that revelation. Lena’s a grown woman. Do I tell her I’m sorry her mom left? It was obviously a long time ago. This is why moving all the time was horrible for me. I don’t know how to make actual connections with people.
“That’s super shitty.” Lena nods her head, but her eyes are trained on a book next to her, her fingers tracing over the gold embossed letters of the title.
“Yeah. Long time ago.” She drops her hand to her lap and takes a deep breath, her eyes meeting mine once more. “Anyway, Davis told you he grew up knowing about magic, huh?” The look in her eyes has turned speculative, and I’m not sure how to respond.
“I think he was trying to calm me down. I mean, my mom basically shoved me out the door with a hug and a kiss, and then Davis was driving me away before I realized I was in the car. It was surreal.”
“Wait, what? That’s how you met? When did that happen?”
I don’t know why I said that and now I don’t know why I feel like I need to keep Davis’s trip to come get me a secret. Especially after our conversation yesterday, where he basically yelled at me for moving here. A part of me wants to hoard the details of how I met Davis. Still, I can’t seem to stop from telling Lena.
“When I was fifteen, Davis showed up at our apartment. My mom had a bag packed for me and told me I needed to leave.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know for sure. We moved all the time when I was younger. Back then it was just our normal, it never occurred to me we were running from something. Or someone. The night Davis came to get me, he told me that our moms had been best friends, and he was there to take me somewhere. It was obvious he didn’t really want to be there. It was more of an obligation than anything.”
Thoughts of that night and my mom settle heavy on my heart. I try not to think about saying goodbye to my mom for the last time very often, but it’s been a constant in my thoughts since I arrived here. If I’d known I wouldn’t see her again, I would have held her tighter, refused to leave, shouted and screamed at her to come with me. We’d been on the run my entire life. Why suddenly decide it was time to give up? It still pisses me off to think about it, but I rarely let myself go down that path. There’s nothing but pain and anger there. It’s better to keep that part of me buried down deep and never experience things too intensely. That way it’s harder to be hurt and disappointed when people ultimately let you down.
