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“I don’t know.” I shake my head, and Rhys gives a terse nod.
“Can we back up a second? Why would you think I’m this catalyst? It’s not like I’m brewing up potions in my house like some evil witch.”
Lena closes the book, pushing it away from her before she smiles dejectedly. “Why did you move here Miri?” She holds her hands up as soon as Miri makes a face. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounds. What I mean to say is, what brought you here?”
Some of the defensiveness falls from Miri’s face and she sighs loudly. Her arms are still crossed, and I hate how defensive she looks. Not that I’ve helped to prevent any of this. “My mom wrote me a letter before we were separated. She told me about her family. She also told me about the house here on Wild Haven Island. It was always in the back of my mind that I would come here someday, if nothing else, just to see the place, but this last year it just seemed more important to reconnect with that part of myself. With my family’s past.”
“Was it after you turned twenty-five?” Lena said, biting her lips after the words were out and a chagrined look passes over Miri’s face.
“Right after I turned twenty-five, I received a letter from a lawyer, letting me know the house was being transferred to my full ownership. It had been held in trust for me until then. I knew about it, I’ve known about it for years, but it was never that important. When I got that letter though, after I turned twenty-five, I just knew this was where I belonged.” Miri’s brow creases with a frown, and she looks away from Lena to me. “I refuse to believe that the only reason I want to be here is because someone spelled me or some shit.”
“I don’t think that’s what happened at all,” Lena says. “This is the home of your family, and you belong here. But I think our magic also wants us to find one another.”
“We still don’t know that we will form an Axis,” Ruby speaks up, finally lifting her eyes from the spot she’d been staring at on the table. “Not for sure. This is all just a guess.”
“And there’s like, no one we can ask about this? No one knows more about the Axis than what Lena’s gleaned from books over the years and what Davis and Archer picked out from this journal of questionable authorship?” Miri asks, and I shake my head.
“The only people who might know more aren’t going to tell us anything. It’s either those of our parents involved who are still around, or Anthony. Trust me, we’re not getting answers out of them.”
Miri deflates and once again I feel like a dick because all I’m doing is kicking her while she’s down. Then she sits up straight, her eyes widening.
“What about Dani? Does she know anything?”
God, I hate to keep disappointing her. “Dani moved from Wild Haven before I was even born. What she knows about the things that happened here all those years ago is as much as we know. She wasn’t here, didn’t see any of it. My mom was afraid she’d move back here if she understood how bad things had gotten with my dad.” I sigh. “I wish there we knew more.”
“Crap.” Miri closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Okay, what about this question? Why would we be forming an Axis? What is its purpose?”
There’s a long pause as no one answers at first, because fuck if this question hasn’t plagued every single one of us for years.
“None of us know for sure,” Rhys says frowning at his sister, “but Lena’s read every book she could find on the subject and as far as we can tell, it has something to do with the balance between the two realms.”
“The mythology says that hundreds of years ago the veil between our world and Fairy thinned, but we don’t know why that happened. The sentinels who came from Fairy used their magic to help close up the tear, but in doing so they were stuck here. Maybe the veil is weakening again. Really, we don’t know.” Lena takes off her glasses, tossing them on the table and rubbing her eyes.
“I’m going to suspend disbelief and go with the fact that there is in fact a magical realm out there that somehow cracked open and mythical creatures wandered over to our side.” Miri releases a quick, noisy breath. “Okay, so your rationale for this Axis forming, it’s weird as hell, but not evil or anything. What is it about the Axis that has everyone looking like their favorite show was canceled on a cliffhanger?” Miri’s voice cracks as she plays with a little silver charm around her neck, sliding it back and forth along the chain.
“It’s because our experience has shown us the Axis isn’t a good thing.” My voice is level, detached as I answer her question.
Archer approaches it from a different angle. “People’s personalities become highlighted. If they were angry to begin with, they become more aggressive, those who are quiet become shut-ins. It brings out the worst in people.”
My friends around the table look lost in memories. I’m pretty sure we’re all thinking about how Anthony’s Axis fucked up our own lives.
Miri doesn’t ask any more questions, she just sits back in her chair, her eyes glazed over. I’m exhausted and I have a feeling the real battle hasn’t even started yet.
