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EMILY
After catching the Ash Hounds and Sam up to speed with the meeting, we headed to Cassian’s office to the Maledictio Propagator.
Cove came with us, but the others decided to hang back. Cassian’s office was only so big, and we didn’t want to all be clustered.
The object sat on the shelf, untouched since we’d first placed it there. An empty space waited for a vial at each corner, with one in the center. We moved it to the table, allowing enough space around it for whatever happened next.
“Maybe we should all place them in at the same time, for added measure,” Ember suggested, handing a vial to each person, giving me the vial containing the essence of Spirit. My father’s spirit. Though it wasn’t him in that vial, it was spiritual essence that was collected when his spirit dissolved and transformed back into Thanat. Maybe it was Thanat’s spirit, or a mix of both, but I preferred to think it was my father’s, to hold onto that connection for a moment longer before I had to give it up.
The vial had a buzzing energy to it. I could almost feel a dull static in my hands, radiating from the bottle. Glancing around at the others, I wanted to see which vials they each held. Griffin held the fire element that I’d collected in the demon realm. Cassian had water—what a shocker that he’d have the exact opposite of Griffin’s. Cove held onto the earth vial, and Ember held the air.
We counted down and inserted the vials at the same time. A loud click, and then the object closed itself, the vials inside. It was back to its previous form as a circle. It started to twirl, picking up in speed until it spun so fast it just disappeared. Into thin air. Nothing left.
“Uh, that’s good, right?” Ember asked. “It means we completed the puzzle, or whatever?”
Cove nodded, staring at the empty space where the object sat moments before. “Yes. It should mean that.” She excused herself, leaving to tell Alpha Radolph about the object.
We’d done it. We completed the puzzle, stopping the curse from getting worse. It was one small step forward—an accomplishment that brought us just a little closer to victory.
Ember asked if I wanted to head back to the room to talk, so we did, sitting on opposite beds as she asked me about the same thing I’d been thinking since our visit to the Underworld.
“Emily, do you think there’s a possibility that we’re… sisters?”
Relief flooded me hearing her ask about that. “I’m so glad you mentioned this because I was wondering the same thing. I mean, it makes sense. That’s why we’ve been so connected since we first met. But there are so many things I don’t understand. For starters, you have a family.”
She looked away, biting her lip. When she looked back at me, her eyes were filled with curiosity. “I don’t remember anything before I was ten. No memories whatsoever. When I asked my parents about it, they didn’t believe me. Said I was just trying to get attention and to stop misbehaving. I’ve never really felt like their daughter. It was like I was a child they were supposed to care for. But what if I wasn’t their daughter?”
“What are you saying?” I asked. A part of me knew what she meant, but everything was so complicated, I had no idea what to think anymore.
“I thought about this the entire ride home. What if Asana is my mother, and she gave me up like she did with you? I mean, how old are you?”
“Twenty-one,” I answered.
“I’m exactly ten years older than you. What if Asana gave us up at the same time, erased our memories, and gave us new parents? I mean, think about it. You never felt like you belonged to your family. Neither did I. You were a baby when Asana gave you up, and I can’t remember anything before age ten. It sounds insane, I know. But honestly, it makes sense.”
I nodded, the pieces coming together, almost creating a picture. But there were still so many pieces missing. Why did Asana give us up? What happened 21 years ago?
“That’s not all,” Ember said, bringing back my attention. “Your father called us his girls, right? He called you his luna, and me his sol. When the fortune teller did her reading, she said something about the Luna and the Sol being reunited.”
“I remember,” I said, reaching into the drawer of my nightstand and pulling out a notebook. “I wrote it down what she said.” Flipping through the pages, I looked for the notes from the fortune teller experience.
“Here it is.
The moon and the sun, are both derived from one. A family tied, a family broken. Two sisters. One witch. Seek the truth and you seek to cleanse a world washed in blood. But to end the reign of red, you must restore the luna and the sol.
“I wrote it down after the reading, when you were with Raul.”
Hearing the fortune again, her eyes widened as she sorted through the information. “Sol means sun, right? The moon and sun, luna and sol. I think it’s talking about us. Both derived from one, we came from the same mother. A family broken could be talking about when she gave us up, and Alpha Koda was killed. Two sisters, one witch—it all fits so perfectly. To end the reign of red could be talking about the bloodshed.”
“Or,” I countered, “what if it’s talking about Samara and her reign? She has red hair, and her affinity is fire, I think. To end her reign, we needed to reunite and work together to defeat her.”
As I said the words, they became so clear, coming together and forming on their own, answering what my mind was too cluttered to put together.
“I can’t believe it,” Ember said, staring at me with tears forming in her eyes, glossing them over. “We’re sisters!”
“We’re sisters!” I squealed, too happy saying those words out loud.
We hugged each other for I didn’t even know how long before I pulled away, telling Ember I needed to shower. With my arms wrapped around her, I was very aware of my sweaty odor from the hiking. She plugged her nose, laughing, and I headed to the bathroom across the hall.
