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Her words shocked me to the core, wondering if she truly meant them. We had just returned. We had reclaimed our home, ready to defeat the Darkness as our ancestors hoped we would. But Willow seemed adamant. And I worried what would happen if we didn’t listen to her plan. And I worried who she planned to stay behind, because I was almost positive it wouldn’t be her.
Chapter Nineteen
Eli
I found Kalani outside in the gardens, playing with her siblings. Quickly explaining the situation, I led her to Willow’s room. Walking in, we were met with somber faces. I had no clue what had transpired while I was gone, but it was clear it was nothing good.
As we entered the room, Willow’s eyes found Kalani, and immediately she ushered her aside, speaking to her alone. While they spoke, I asked the others what I had missed.
“She wants Kalani to command all the Shifters to come to the castle. And then she wants to send everyone to the human realm, where the Darkness hasn’t touched.” Halley explained, her voice somber.
And I understood why, considering the absolute wildness of Willow’s plan. What good would it do to move back to the human realm, when our people were proof of the disaster that idea was originally? Didn’t Willow understand that we would lose more of our people on the human realm than the Darkness could ever destroy?
“What’s our plan then? We obviously can’t go along with this.” I spoke, tugging at my hair in frustration. We had gone through too much for this to be the end.
Wondering if Willow’s plan was the only option, I pushed my power out into the room, landing on Demetrius. Instead of the burning agony from yesterday, I could feel the same sadness, but also relief. The Darkness truly was loosening its reigns on the man inside the shield. I explained as much to the others, but apparently Willow had already told them this. However, in her mind, the shield would only do so much.
“We can’t just go back that shit hole of a realm.” Madden growled and I wholeheartedly agreed. Being here, on Agrum Di Vinum, I knew this was our home. We couldn’t abandon it again.
“We follow her plan for now. We needed a way to save the other Divines anyways. Once they’re all here, we figure something out. Our people will listen to us, they won’t walk through the portal just because she tells them to.” Halley stated, certainty in her tone.
It wasn’t a complete plan, but those seemed to work best for us. We had made it here after all.
“We’ll all go with Kalani, wherever Willow plans to send her. Make sure she’s safe. But for now, we’ll delay her mission and research as much as we can about Agrum Di Vinum and the Darkness. We need to find a way to defeat it before Willow opens that portal.”
We all nodded along with Halley, ready to follow her. As Halley finished speaking, so did Willow and Kalani, walking back over to our group. Kalani looked astonished at the information Willow had told her, and I hoped it was at least some details on the powers she now possessed.
“Kalani now knows of the duty she has. She is ready to save the Shifters. She will go today.” Willow expressed, but Madden cut her off.
“She can’t go alone. We need to gather more volunteers. Protect her from the other Divines that won’t listen to an Alpha.”
Willow’s eyes widened at his words, taken aback, as if no one had ever questioned her authority before. And maybe they hadn’t. But she wasn’t the leader of the Divines anymore. Our people didn’t know her, and we were the ones they trusted.
Shaking off Madden’s words, Willow calmly smiled, as if his interruption hadn’t bothered her. “Of course. Prepare your protectors. We can wait several more days.” Turning her back on us, she continued. “Now I must insist that you all leave. I would like some time alone.”
None of us questioned her reasoning, all wanting out of the room. Sometimes, Willow seemed to flip a switch, going from a docile woman to a crazed Enchantress. Whenever it happened, I desperately wished I could feel her emotions, so we could truly figure out what she wanted from us.
Once we were far away from Willow’s room, Knox spoke up. “We’ll do what Halley said for now, pretend to go along with Willow’s plan. That means that we need to delay the inevitable while we research more about the Darkness. For now, we all need to go back to our normal days. Tonight, we’ll meet up in the castle library. There should be plenty of books on the Darkness.”
All of us nodded, saying goodbye, before taking off in opposite directions. I wandered alone through the center hall, headed towards the classroom. The other instructors had been continuing the lessons for the past couple of days, but I was happy to get back in the classroom with them.
As I walked past one of the large kitchen areas, I heard my name called, and changed directions. Ever since our systems had been put in place, we were rarely needed, but that didn’t mean an issue couldn’t have come up. Walking into the room, it was empty, and I wondered if the voice had come from another area.
But as I turned to walk away, I heard the voice again. This time it was clearly calling my name, the noise coming from the back of the room. Walking over, I wondered if one of the kids was hiding from class and had found them stuck somewhere.
However, as I reached the corner, there was no one to be seen. But I knew the voice had come from here. Confused, I peered through the glass window, wondering if the voice had come from outside. But no one stood outside. Instead, all I saw, was a smoky tendril reaching towards me, and then everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty
Halley
Throughout the day, the others had gone about the duties they had place upon themselves. Since I didn’t have a role yet, I took it upon myself to check in with the community. Although I didn’t trust everything Willow said, I could see how much she cared about her people. And if we were truly supposed to be the Heirs to the throne and lead these people, I wanted to know them. And I wanted to do what was best for them.
I spent the day speaking to everyone from the little kids playing in the gardens, to the men and women Guarding the grounds, to the adults doing their best to keep this place happy and thriving. Everyone was doing their best, trying to smile through the hardships, and it made me want to defeat the Darkness even more than before. If not for me and my family, I needed to do it for them.
With that urgency in my heart, I had beat the rest of them to the library, searching through old tomes that detailed the energy of Agrum Di Vinum and the beginning of the Darkness. Right now, I was reading up on thedilicudus visWillow kept going on about.
However, as I read, I realized Willow wasn’t telling us the entire truth. It was true that only a select few of the original Divines were chosen to be given the energy of the land. But not every descendant inherited the power. In fact, according to the text, only those who the energy deemed deserving of the power would inherit the energy. Which would explain why Kalani had thedilicudus viswhen none of her family did.
