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Claire sighed. He was right. As much as she wanted to push it out farther, she needed to put her big girl pants on and get over it.
“Let’s do the first one tonight,” Everett suggested. “We have three days and three journals. We can get through most of them before the coronation ceremony and the other two we still need to get afterwards.”
Desmond shrugged. “Works for me. Claire?”
Broken down into one journal per day sounded a lot more appealing so she nodded. Everett fetched the first journal out from under the other two on the bedside table and handed it to Claire.
She held it carefully in her hands, trying to push down the overwhelming emotions that seemed to bubble up as she held it. Grief and sadness mainly but there were some small feelings of excitement trying to come through. She was going to get to know her mother through her words at least.
She opened the journal and carefully laid the letter to the side. Malcolm kept his arm around her while Everett and Desmond settled in front of them on the floor. Claire began to read.
“There is a lot of information nestled in these pages and the pages of the other journals,” she recited the words on the page. “You will need all of the journals to make sense of it but there were still some things I recorded on these pages that didn’t make sense to me. I know from my visions that they will make sense to you and your Triad.”
Claire paused and arched an eyebrow. Her mother had seen her with her Triad. Just how far into the future did her visions go?
“Wait, your mother had the gift of Sight?” Desmond broke in. Claire nodded, realizing she forgot to tell them what she had learned from Greta.
“That’s what Greta said,” Claire answered. “Apparently she could see events within the week pretty clearly but events farther out were more fragmented and likely to change.”
“That’s a powerful gift,” Desmond said thoughtfully. “This could give us the edge if we can decipher the journals.”
“Keep reading,” Malcolm urged softly.
“In addition to my journals in the Elven Forest,there are a few other things you will need to find the whole truth,”she continued. “I needed to split the information so it didn’t fall into the wrong hands. One additional letter lies with your father in the Fae lands. It was my hope that you would find your way to the Fae when you were a child and that my visions would be wrong but if they weren’t, you need to go to the Fae.”
“Well that cements that,” Everett said, halting her. “We’ll need to go to the Fae.”
“After the Dragon Mountains,” Malcolm grumbled. “My father might have information that is helpful to us.”
“What else does she say?” Desmond asked.
Claire let her eyes trace over the next few paragraphs. Her eyebrows raised. “She confirmed what we knew that the Academy was built by the Elves and the Fae and thus responded to their magic more than the others. Those students would feed it extra magic during their time there and in turn the Academy would provide them gifts.”
She trailed off as she kept reading. “My guidance orb from last year? Apparently they left that for me after one of my mother’s visions.”
Desmond pursed his lips and nodded. “I had wondered if that was the case. While the Academy is a sentient building, its activity definitely picked up before your arrival. Almost like it was preparing for something.”
“I wonder if that’s where your letter came from?” Everett said. “Your acceptance letter to the Academy.”
Desmond arched his eyebrows. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right.”
“You’re not the only smart one,” Everett rolled his eyes.
Desmond shoved him playfully and Claire laughed as the two men got into a mini-wrestling match on the floor before Malcolm growled at them to break it up.
“She doesn’t say what it is that we need to find or how to find it,” Claire said. “Just that we need to find it.”
“Your mother was really worried that these journals were going to fall into the wrong hands,” Malcolm mused.
“Which is odd because it required a drop of Claire’s blood to open,” Everett said.
Malcolm growled and Claire rolled her eyes. Overprotective shifters. “Exactly,” she said ignoring him. “If she had already spelled it with blood magic, shouldn’t it have been protected?”
Desmond winced. “Not necessarily. If she had been captured, they could have drawn blood from her by force. Even in battle if she had been injured they might have been able to draw blood from a sword or other weapon. While blood magic is powerful, it is possible to work around it. She might have been able to strengthen it by making sure the blood had to be ‘clean’ or given willingly but if they had leverage against her…”
“Leverage like me,” Claire whispered. “What if that’s why she sifted me away?”
Everett squeezed her leg gently, pushing comfort down their newly strengthened bond. “That’s a possibility,” he said gently. “I’m not sure we’ll ever know.”
