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“I haven’t meant to carry on this lie, but you need to understand, it’s the life I knew. I wasn’t sure if I was safe here.” Halley started, specifically looking at Eli and Kalani, the two she was clearly closest to.
“What lie?” Kalani murmured, brows scrunched in confusion.
“I know I told everyone that I had been orphaned as an infant. That I never knew my parents. But that’s not the truth. I was with my mom until I was ten years old. I didn’t know anything about the Divines or this world, she never told me. The only thing I knew was that someone was after us and we were constantly on the run, hiding from whoever wanted to hurt us. Ten years ago, they finally caught up to us. My mom told me to run and then sacrificed herself for me.”
Stunned looks graced each face in the room and I startled to realize that certain emotions were flowing through me. As much as I resented Halley, as much as I wanted to hate her for being an Enchantress, I couldn’t help but feel her grief. Because I knew what it felt like to lose a parent at a young age, to lose the one person you could count on. And as much as I wanted to hold onto my hostility, I couldn’t deny the sympathy that ran through my veins. No child should experience what we had.
“I didn’t tell any of you because I never knew about the Divines. And I had to wonder if they were who Mom had been running from. As I spent more time here, I began to feel safe and realized the Hunters must have been the threat. But I guess now, now maybe I was right.” Halley finished, looking at Knox.
Following her lead, we all turned towards him and dammit, why were they convincing me this may be true?
“This is true. The Council was behind your mother’s death and their goal was to kill you as well. Which leads me to believe they were behind all the Enchanter’s death.” Knox explained calmly.
But as his words burrowed in my head, holding some truth, my anger burned, as I realized that meant they were behind my father’s death as well. Because although I’ve always blamed the Hunters who put the bullet in his skull, I also blamed the Enchanters. Because if they had still been here, he would have been shielded. Protected. And if what Knox said was true, then if the Council hadn’t killed them all off, my father would still be alive.
“But why? Why would the Council do that? They left us vulnerable, hiding from the Hunters.” Kalani asked.
“Fucking hiding like rats in holes.” Madden murmured and I was reminded of his disdain for the Council and how they ran things in the communities.
“This has something to do with the prophecy, doesn’t it?” Eli asked, piecing together his own puzzle.
Knox simply nodded. “I assume so yes. Again, I don’t know for sure, but the knowledge has been passed down for generations that the five heirs of each Sector would be the key to opening the portal back to Agrum Di Vinum. Clearly, by decimating the Enchanter population we would have no chance of ever returning home, the heir never being born.”
“But why? Isn’t that what we all want, to go home? Why would the Council want to continue hiding, fearing for our lives when we could go back to safety?” The girl sitting next to Kalani, Maeve I think, questioned, her voice high with emotion.
“Because what better way to control the power than having your people live in fear?” Madden spoke and I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard the man say in one sentence.
But he was right. Fuck was he right. The history of Divines and humans alike, wasn’t that what tyrannical leaders did? They kept their people in a bubble, scared to break through, exerting their power over them as they pleased.
“So, what do we do now?” I demanded because even if this was true, it didn’t matter. We didn’t have the prophecy, we only had one Enchantress who was possibly the heir of Willow, and we had no clue who the other heirs could be. Or where they could be. Or if they were even alive.
“We find the prophecy. We keep the Council off our backs. We fight the Hunters. And above all else, we keep Halley alive, because she’s our only hope.” Knox repeated.
“As if hiding this from the Council, fighting the Hunters, and keeping Halley safe aren’t hard enough, how do you suppose we find this prophecy?” I questioned, tired of the assumptions and wanting some real answers.
Instead of Knox speaking up as I assumed he would, clearly taking the lead, it was Halley. She had sat in silence for most of this conversation, but clearly, she had been thinking. Debating what this all meant.
“We search into my past. Into my mother’s past. She was the last Enchantress alive, and she knew what was coming for us. If there are answers, we find them there.”
The other five bodies in the room looked at Halley with concern and I wondered when the fuck this girl had wrapped us all around her finger. Well, everyone else’s finger. Because even though I had saved her, and I understood what she went through as a child, and I now knew the Enchanter’s may not be to blame for my father’s death, I still wanted nothing to do with the girl. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t think I had a choice anymore.
Chapter Eight
Eli
After Knox’s spew of information and Halley’s declaration, all of us waited for someone to tell us what the game plan was. I’ll admit, I happily took the back seat in situations like this. Sure, I could step up if needed to, but with Knox in my life since I was born, I often let him lead. As the previous conversation proved, Knox had natural leadership abilities I could never possess. Knox was the hero, and I was his backseat partner in crime, and I didn’t mind that one bit. Feeling Halley’s soft hands tangle in the strands of my hair, I amended my statement. I didn’t mind it one bit as long asIgot the girl. But since it seemed there was no love lost between the two people closest to me, I decided not to worry. If there was anyone to worry about it would be the burly Shifter in the corner, who’s glare would have incinerated me by now if looks could kill.
“So, we investigate Halley’s past to find out more about the prophecy and if the Council was truly behind the attack and the Enchanter’s death. But what about everything else? What are we supposed to do now when the Council is here, cleaning up the mess of the battle?” Maeve asked and I was happy to have the calm, cool, and collected Maeve back. I knew that Kalani’s death had shaken us all to our core, but we couldn’t let that stick, not with what we were about to deal with.
Again, Knox took the lead. “Right now, we go back and act as if nothing has happened, besides the attack. We can’t let the Council know any of what has transpired here.”
“And how do you suggest keeping this from Zachariah and Councilman Jay, two of the strongest Seers in the world?” Wilder snarked.
I couldn’t decipher why he was here or why Knox had included him in this. Even Madden, who I wouldn’t consider close to our little group, at least had an interest given that Kalani was one of his Shifters and had just undergone a huge change. But Wilder, no pun intended, was the wild card of this group.
“Zachariah and Jay may be strong, but I’m just as strong, if not eventually stronger. The reason I couldn’t see the Hunters attack or more information from Jay is because he uses his own power to block his future. It’s difficult to do and as of now, Jay and I are the only Seers who are able. Considering I am the only Seer who can view pasts, it’ll be easy to prevent Jay from seeing our possible futures. Except the ones I want him to see.”
No one had a remark to that, and I smirked, proud of my best friend. Knox sure as shit was the strongest Seer in existence and if he thought he could block our futures then I trusted him.
