Discovery at Nerwolix (18 page)

“You’re filling me in later, bestie,” Able
winks. “Alright?”

“You got it.”

Everyone shuffles out and I’m left with
Reid, Sampson, Clarence, Blovid, Qippert, Jothkore and Vix.

“Reid?” Sampson raises a brow.

Instead of retreating, he threads his
fingers with mine, cementing our hands.

“Should’ve known,” he exhales. “Alright,
well, come sit down, Fallon. Tell us what happened.”

Leading me to Sampson’s bed, Reid sits
beside me, keeping our fingers locked on his lap. His eyes roam
over my face, down my shoulders and lower, scanning for injuries.
Satisfied, he lifts my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles.
“What happened?”

“After you left, I fell asleep.” I turn to
Sampson, Blovid and Clarence. “I had this dream… the same one I’ve
been having for a while.”

“Dream?” Clarence frowns. “What dream?”

“I didn’t know what it was—who
She
was.”

“Who?”

“This older woman, with silver eyes and
white hair.”

“You have dreamt of Her?” Blovid
inhales.

“She has come to you?” Sampson mimics the
response, drawing in air with genuine surprise. “She doesn’t appear
to many…” the shock is still painted across his face. “What did She
say?”

“Nothing at first…” I try remembering the
first time she appeared. It was back on Harrizel—the first time I
dreamt of the woman with the red bandanna and Granny Ruth. But what
did she say? “At first she just kept calling my name. Over and
over…” I think back, trying to remember. “That was on Harrizel. And
then, when I got here, to Nerwolix for the first time, she kept
telling me it was time to wake up. I
had
to wake up,” I look
at the Dofinikes who all share the same confusion. “And then
tonight, when I was napping, she told me to come find her. Said I
had to follow them.”

“Who?” Reid asks.

“The Lynzees,” Sampson answers before I get
a chance.

I nod. “So I did.”

“Where did you go?”

“Nearly back where we were earlier,” I
glance at Reid. “To the Hylas Mountains.”

“You went all the way back there?” his eyes
light up. He squeezes my hand and I know he wishes it was just the
two of us right now. Part of me wishes the same thing but I need to
get the rest of it out.

“And what happened?” Clarence asks. “When
you got there—what happened?”

“She appeared.”

“Aya-Vellay,” Vix whispers.

“Oh Great Spirit…” Blovid looks to the
others before focusing on me again. “You actually saw Her?”

“Saw who?” Reid asks.

“Only for a few seconds…” I nod. “She was
all around me, coming from every direction, and then in front of
me. But only briefly.”

“And what did She say?”

“Wait—who is She?” Reid asks.

“The Spirit, Reid,” Sampson answers. “The
Mother
.”

His eyes grow wide, turning back on me.

“Tell us, Fallon,” Clarence goes on, “what
did She say?”

“She said I’ve returned home. That I’m with
my family who shares my ancient blood,” I look between all the
Dofinikes, hoping someone will have the answer. “What does that
mean?”

Sampson and Clarence exchange glances as the
four other Dofinikes peek over at the duo. When no one immediately
answers, I go on, adding the rest of the details. “She said that
all I have to do is ask him and he’ll reveal the truth. …What am I
supposed to ask? And who?”

“It is time Fallon knows,” Vix says, as if
settling some matter.

“Know?” I look at her. “Know what?”

Sampson takes a deep breath, nodding. “I
agree. The Mother wants her to know. It must be for a reason.”

“What?” I ask.

“I cannot believe She came to Fallon… and
has
been for a while,” Blovid exhales, eyeing me with awe.
“It certainly explains the Lynzees. This is extraordinary!”

“It is
highly
unusual,” Jothkore
agrees with excitement.

“She rarely appears to her children,”
Qippert glances over me, “especially one of the younger ones.”

“She is not young,” Vix exhales, eyes set on
me like all the others. “She has ancient blood.”

“What does that mean?” Reid asks with a bit
of aggression. “Someone want to explain?”

Again, Sampson and Clarence exchange
glances.

“How are we going to do this?” the Fychu
asks his friend.

Clarence exhales, rubbing the back of his
neck. After a solid moment of silence, he sighs. “I guess I should
tell her.”

“Shall we leave?” Blovid asks.

Clarence offers the slightest nod and the
others start to move for the curtain. But Reid keeps his fingers
threaded with mine, no intent on moving. Sampson also holds his
position, eyes on the ground.

At the drape, Blovid eyes me one final time.
“Good luck.”

Once it’s only the four of us, I turn to
Clarence. “What’s going on?”

He pulls up one of the red cushions across
from me and squeezes it into the tight space. Slowly sitting, he
leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. Running his hands
through his hair, he looks at me with a mixture of apprehension and
guilt. “I need to tell you something, Fallon.”

My heart is racing, the air suddenly heavy
in my chest. I clutch Reid’s hand, squeezing it with unintended
force. But if he feels it, he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t even
flinch, but sits calmly next to me, stroking my knuckles with his
thumb.

Clarence inhales, glancing back at Sampson
before focusing on me again. “Something I should’ve told you a
while ago. I didn’t, because you’re only twenty-three. I wanted to
wait until you were twenty-five …That’s the age I told your
mother.”

My
mother?

It slams into me all at once—everything
somersaulting too fast to really understand how I didn’t see it
before. How could I have not put it together? Especially after we
got our memories back and I knew it was Granny Ruth I was dreaming
of? But I didn’t remember when I awoke. I didn’t put it together
that…

Clarence remains silent, tight-lipped as he
watches me unravel it.

“It was you…” I inhale, the pieces coming
together, “with Granny Ruth and… and my mother.” I look at him, a
second realization striking my brain. “My mother’s name was
Helen.”

Clarence nods.

“How did you know them?”

Keeping his voice low, Clarence inhales.
“Ruth Gillian was my granddaughter.”

“
What?”

“Fallon… please… let me explain,” he glances
to Sampson who watches me carefully. The Fychu nods and Clarence
redirects his attention, running a hand through his hair. “I guess
it’s best to start at the beginning.” He stares off into the
distance, already focused on the nothing behind me.

“I was young. Considered no more than a
teenager at the time…” he shoots Sampson a quick glance and the
Fychu lowers his eyes, listening. “We uh…” Clarence continues, “…we
were already on our own and at that time, things were… things were
difficult. That’s putting it lightly,” he chuckles softly, the
humor quickly dying on his lips. “But it didn’t stop me from doing
what I’d wanted to do for some time—going to Earth. It was illegal,
so naturally I wanted to go. With the prophecy in existence, no
Dofinike was allowed to visit the planet in fear of igniting the
inevitable war. But,” he shrugs casually, “I wanted to see what the
big deal was. We needed a field trip… something to take our minds
off… off things. Sampson didn’t want to go. It was all my idea and
believe me,” he laughs, “it took a
lot
of convincing to get
him to go with me.”

Clarence leans back. “It was spring, 1910.
We landed somewhere outside Boston. We didn’t know the first thing
about Earth or humans—how to act or what we should look like—so we
hid in the woods, spying. It must’ve been around a week when we
finally felt comfortable and ventured out,” he chuckles to himself,
his eyes darting over the wooden floor. “The way you dressed and
spoke… so very different from ourselves. I promised Sampson we
wouldn’t stay for very long. I just wanted to
see
. Just see.
What was the big deal with you? And what was the danger? And at
first, it was nothing. There was
nothing
really special
about the humans. I almost regretted coming. I don’t like being
disappointed,” he grins, his smile quickly fading. “So we’d decided
to go home. But on the day we were set to leave, I wanted one last
human meal from a restaurant we’d tried. I went in alone, assuming
I’d be there no more than a few minutes…” his voice trails off, his
eyes focused on something in the distance. The corner of his mouth
turns up. “And then I saw her. Anne,” he inhales, his voice soft
and gentle. “The most beautiful thing I ever saw.

“I thought she was a vision. There was no
way something so beautiful could be real… no way a creature like
that could exist, especially so close to me…” his mouth lifts, his
eyes full of wonder. They shift, seeing something over my shoulder.
“She wore lavender. A lavender dress with white lace and a red hat.
It matched her lips. These perfect full lips…

“I ate my steak as slow as possible. I
wanted time to last forever with her at the table next to me.
Nothing was as wonderful as being near her, just being close to
her…” his voice softens, “…and when she started to leave, I-I
couldn’t help it. I followed her. All over town, I wouldn’t let her
out of my sight. I followed her from the shipping docks to the bank
her father owned and back to her home. She was all I could see,” he
looks back at me. “Sampson didn’t understand. He couldn’t. It was
just a human female to him. But she wasn’t. She was
more
.
And I didn’t care if he left me on Earth—I’d stay if it meant I
could see her every day. That’s all I wanted.

“I stayed a week longer, watching her,
trying to figure out what to do—what to say. And one day, I worked
up the nerve to talk to her. I introduced myself as Clarence—a name
I’d heard in town. And she smiled…” his face lights up. “Oh… I was
sure I’d never breathe again. And I knew. I knew I could never
leave. Not without her. My life would become all about her. Anne.
And I was fine with that.

“That first day we spoke for only a few
minutes. It was painful when it ended, but every day after that we
talked a little longer, spent a little more time together. And
every day I fell more in love with her. I was lost. Absolutely
unraveling,” he shakes his head with stardust in his eyes. “It
wasn’t long before her father wanted to know who I was, why I was
spending so much time with his daughter. I played the part,
assuming the role of the perfect suitor –even told him of my
intention to marry Anne,” he takes a slow breath, his smile
fading.

“He had someone else in mind. A doctor from
New York. He’d been working on the union for a while. It was
someone from a good family and me—I couldn’t produce a respectable
surname. I would never get his blessing… or his daughter.

“Anne and I decided to run away. We couldn’t
stay in town or anywhere nearby. They’d find us. She’d be forced to
marry the doctor and me… I’d be imprisoned. He’d see to it. We
couldn’t stay. I knew it was a gamble, but I had to tell her the
truth. She was owed that much. So one night, I confessed it all.
Everything. What I was. Where I came from and that I’d planned on
giving up that life to spend the rest of it with her. Because she
was worth it. More than worth it. She was all I wanted out of life
anymore and, thank the Way, she felt the same. She loved me despite
everything. And she wanted to come back with me. But we couldn’t go
to Dellapalania…” Clarence shoots the Fychu a look, but he’s
focused on the floor. “Thankfully Sampson welcomed us to his home,
a small escape in the middle of the Harrizel jungle. I took Anne
there and we were married.

“We spent two blissful years together before
we welcomed our first child. Virginia. She was
perfect
, just
like her mother. I was in heaven…” he beams but after a second, the
expression dissipates and his face drops. “Anne became
nostalgic—homesick for Earth. She missed her family, friends. At
first we returned infrequently. A day here and there. She was happy
to see her loved ones, even from afar. But it was tough. Soon the
visits became regular. We were traveling to Earth every few weeks
and then,” he takes a deep breath, “one trip, we came across a
terrible accident. One of her childhood friends had been hit by a
car…

“We snuck Mary behind town, into the woods
and I… I healed her. It was a rash decision and I did it mostly for
Anne… but I knew it would never be as it was. Mary couldn’t stay on
Earth. She
had
to come back with us. That life was over and
the only one left was with us, on Harrizel. So we took her home.
But like Anne, she missed her family. She didn’t have anyone on
Harrizel. She was a stranger, on a foreign planet. She was alone...
depressed. So we started making more trips to Earth. It got harder
and harder for Mary to come back to Harrizel. She wanted to stay,
to return to the life she claimed
I
had taken from her. She
had fought with Anne for a long while and eventually, on one of our
trips back, she tried to escape.

“Mary only lasted a few hours before she
collapsed. Dead. Once that life ends…” he inhales, his eyes staring
sadly into the distance. “It took Anne a while to get past it. For
a long time she didn’t want to travel to Earth—she couldn’t bear
the thought of seeing anything that reminded her of Mary. That was
fine with me. I’d assumed she was finished with going back to
Earth.

“…Until Virginia started to question her
heritage. When she was old enough we told her everything—who she
was, where she came from and the incredible story of how she came
into existence. Naturally, she was curious about her maternal
history. On Anne’s request, we traveled back to Earth one final
time, but by this point, the planet had erupted in some great war.
So many dying in hospitals and battlefields. Virginia couldn’t
stand the sight. How could a culture do this to themselves? She’d
known so little of life outside Harrizel. She wanted to help. She
decided to stay for long bouts, doing what she could, learning what
she could. And, as every father dreads, the day came when she told
me she’d fallen in love.