Heiress: Birthstone Series Book Two (4 page)

“And?” she asked as she coiled her dark blond hair around
her head.

“She said Aluce’s Wisdom Gem told her I would die if I went
with her. She won’t let me come and she’s going to leave Vairda.”

“When?”

“Soon, I think. Tonight I was going to tell my parents I was
leaving the islands but that seemed kind of pointless once Aylen banned me from
going.”

Haji’s mouth quirked up at the corners before she said,
“Well, you’re going to have a lot of time on your hands then. What do you plan
to do with it?”

“I don’t know.” I kicked backwards and drifted further away
from her, wishing she’d go home. She wasn’t much help at the moment.

“So, are you going to wait for her to come back or are you
going to move on with your life and start paying attention to Vairdan girls
like a good little son?”

I adjusted my direction and coasted toward her again. When I
reached the edge of the pool, I scrambled out of the water and climbed onto the
boulder next to hers. “Here’s the thing. I don’t want to start spending time
with island girls just to make my parents happy. It will only hurt the girls
I’m with and it will give my parents false hope. But I don’t want to sit around
waiting for however long it takes Aylen to come back. And what if she doesn’t?
She might spend the rest of her life on the mainland.”

Haji was silent for a moment. She stared up at the small gap
in the trees where the full, bloated moon peeked out at us. Finally, she
sighed. “You know, I saw how much it hurt her the night you kissed Faema at the
festival last year.”

“Faema kissed me,” I clarified.

“Okay, I’ll give you that. But as little as I knew about Aylen
back then, I could tell she had waited a long time for that kiss. And she would
have been willing to wait a lot longer until that night when she thought she’d
lost you to Faema for good.”

“It was just a stupid mistake,” I said, unable to see where
she was going with this.

“Well, we all know that.” She waved her hand dismissively.
“My point is, maybe this is your chance to wait for
her
.”

I swallowed hard, ingesting her words. Was this what I had
to do then? Sit around and wait to prove my loyalty? I knew I’d do it if I had
no other choice, but the thought of waiting in Vairda while Aylen went to face
a nearly insurmountable task seemed pathetic. I had more to offer than that.

“I would do it, you know,” I said out loud so Haji wouldn’t
think I was some sort of coward. “Wait for her, I mean. But at some point,
while she’s in Miranasch and I’m in Vairda, one or both of us will need the
other person. And because we trusted a Wisdom Gem more than our own instincts,
neither of us will be able to help the other when it really matters.”

Haji shrugged her shoulders and slid off her rock. “I don’t
envy your situation. Sounds like you have a lot to think about.” She began to
make her way around the pool and toward the trail that led back to the village.
She stopped again before she got very far. Turning around, she cocked her head
and studied me.

“She said you’d die if you went to the mainland with her?”
she finally asked.

“Yeah.” I raised one eyebrow.

She tapped her bottom lip with one finger before she asked,
“What happens if you don’t go with her? What if you go on your own instead?”

I shook my head, surprised I hadn’t thought about it yet. “I
don’t know.”

Haji nodded and turned to leave. I stared after her but
didn’t really see anything other than the new possibilities swimming around my
head. Would it be possible to go to Miranasch on my own? How could I do it?
Would the same threats the Wisdom Gem warned Aylen about apply?

Slowly, I slid into the water and eased myself onto my back.
I stayed there for a while, drifting around and around the pool as I thought of
Aylen, the mainland, Aluce, and Haji’s question about traveling there on my
own. I thought about things until my brain turned into the same kind of mush my
mom had chopped our dinner fruit into. Much later, when I realized the insects
were making an evening meal out of me, I pulled myself out of the pool and
trudged home. But even as I walked, emotionally and physically spent from the
day’s events, Haji’s question flickered in my mind, brighter than any other
thought. So, I pondered and stewed over it and wondered if traveling to the
mainland alone would be possible. And if it were, would I really go through
with it?

I wasn’t surprised when Aluce showed up at my home the next afternoon.
She’d been trying to convince me to return to Miranasch with her since the day
I’d met her so it made sense that she would hurry the process along as much as
possible.

Still, when I opened the hut door that morning, I said,
“Aluce, how unexpected,” just to see the look of exasperation pass over her
features.

“It
is
a surprise, isn’t it?” she said, playing
along. I smirked and stepped aside so she could enter. As she passed, she
pressed my bundled necklace into my hands. I hesitated before I closed my
fingers around it. The idea of leaving seemed so much more certain with it in
my hands.

“Aluce,” my dad said. He nodded at her from his chair where
he sat beside my mother. They’d spent the morning roasting and shelling nuts, a
weekly chore that kept us stocked with easily accessible food.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve seen you,” Mom said. I noted
the effort it took for her to speak kindly to our guest.

“I thought it would be wise to give you all some time to
adjust after everything that happened last year.”

Dad replied, “That’s very thoughtful,” but his tone betrayed
him. He didn’t believe a word Aluce said.

I couldn’t bear the stiff conversation dragging out any
longer. “She’s here because of me,” I blurted. “I’m going back to the
mainland.”

Aluce glanced at me, her eyebrows raised in astonishment. “I
thought you wanted me to tell them.”

I shrugged. “You were taking too long. And they can’t kill
me while you’re here.” I plucked a toasted nut from the pile my mother had just
removed from the coals and popped it into my mouth. It sizzled nicely between
my teeth and I reached for another before I saw my mother’s expression.

“When did you decide this?” she asked.

“Yesterday. But it’s been on my mind a lot.”

My father reached for my hand and turned me toward him. “Did
you make this decision or has it been pushed on you?”

I gave a little bitter laugh, knowing he believed Aluce was
behind my announcement. “Oh, it’s been pushed on me.” I eyed the solemn figure
standing in the middle of our home. “But not just by her. It’s the gems,” I
said. “They don’t give me a moment’s peace. Even when I’m not wearing them, I
feel them.”

My mother wrapped an arm around me. She didn’t need to say
anything. The worry lines etched around her eyes and mouth spoke for her.

I leaned into her for a moment, wanting to feel like a
little girl again. “I knew what I was getting into when I made the decision to
find the necklace. But I’ll never learn to control these stones until we go
back to Miranasch.”

Aluce took a step toward us. “A friend of mine has been
consulting the gems for me and there are a few ways we can travel there
together.” She glanced back and forth between my parents. “Travel Gem seems to
be the safest, but I thought you should have the final say.”

My mother and father exchanged looks and in the silence, I
could almost see a conversation taking place between them. Finally, my dad
cleared his throat.

“We’ve consulted the Wisdom Gem a few times as well.” When
my mouth fell open in surprise, he winced. “We knew it would happen at some
point in the near future so we tried to be prepared. Travel Gems seemed to be
the method we saw as well.”

“You knew?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Not entirely,” my mom assured. “We guessed. But we wanted
to be prepared, just in case you decided it was time.” She paused a moment and
glanced at my father again before saying, “We hoped your relationship with Sai
would keep you here longer. Maybe permanently. But we should have known the
stones’ pull would be too much.”

“If I could stay, I would,” I said. “I never thought
anything could make me leave Sai.”

“He’s not coming?” Dad asked.

“That was the other thing I focused on when the gems were
consulted,” Aluce broke in. “Sai won’t survive the trip if he comes with us.
He’s safer on the island.”

My parents glanced at each other, their expressions a
mixture of regret and compassion.

“It may be better this way,” my mom assured, although she
didn’t sound convinced. I pretended to agree.

“How do we get to the mainland with Travel Gems?” I asked in
an attempt to change the subject. “Dad and I are the only ones with a bloodline
to them. How would that work for Aluce and Mom? And aren’t Travel Gems usually
weak?”

Aluce glanced at my parents for permission to explain.
“They’re generally weak but every once in a while, a strong one is mined. Those
usually end up with the king but the rebels have had various methods of
smuggling stones for years before the king can get them into his vaults. There
are ways of altering the gem’s abilities once you get ahold of one,”

“Like the Sea Gems forming the shield around Nethra,” I
said. “You expose the heart without damaging it.”

“That’s part of it. But the person using the stone may also
push the power out to include other people.”

“How?” I asked. I hadn’t yet seen a way to transfer a gem’s
power to someone else and the idea piqued my interest.

“Have you ever tried to send thoughts to someone underwater
while under the Sea Gem’s power?” Aluce asked. I nodded.

“But have you done it with someone who wasn’t already linked
to their own stone?”

I thought for a moment. “What would happen?”

“As long as you were in physical contact, you would be able
to send your thoughts to the person even if they didn’t have a Sea Gem.
However, they wouldn’t be able to speak to you in return. So, in a way, transferring
the power is limited, but there are still minor ways it can happen.”

This made sense so I nodded again.

“The Travel Gem will usually allow more people to travel at
once as long as they are physically linked. However, the person controlling the
gem has to be the one to determine where it takes them and how many can go
through. It’s difficult because Travel Gems die quickly.”

“Right,” I said, rubbing my temples, “but can one Travel Gem
get all of us to Miranasch? I thought they didn’t take you very far.”

“They don’t,” Aluce agreed. “Usually. Some will take you
further, especially with the heart exposed. That’s the trick. Trying to figure
out how far you can go before you destroy the stone. If it dies in the middle
of your progress, you’ll end up only part way. That could prove disastrous.”

“So, do we have a stone powerful enough to take us there
without dropping us somewhere in the middle of the ocean?”

Aluce glanced at my parents again. “I don’t think a Travel
Gem that strong has ever existed, except for maybe the one on your necklace.
But I’d prefer you didn’t use it. It could be the difference between life and
death at some point. If you ever needed to leave a situation quickly, I’d want
you to have it available.”

Before I could ask what other options we had, my father
walked over to one of our large storage trunks. Opening it, he reached in and
pulled out a smallish, brilliant white stone wrapped in filmy fabric. When he
saw that he had our attention, he released the stone from his fingers. It
nearly hit the roof of our hut as it floated upward.

“Where did you get that?” I gasped. I inched closer, hoping
for a better look.

“It came from the king’s vault. He probably wasn’t too
thrilled when he discovered this one missing.”

“Why wasn’t it taken when the soldiers destroyed our home
last year?” I stared up at it in awe.

Aluce’s eyes reflected the bright glow of the gem. “I stole
it from the vault years ago. I’ve never touched it since I don’t have the
bloodline but I passed it on to your father last year after we rid the island
of the invaders. I knew Tereg would be the one using it to get us back to
Miranasch.”

“How far will it take us?” my mother asked.

“I believe it can take us as far as Analar,” Aluce said.

“That far?” My mother shook her head, a hint of skepticism
in her tone. “Are you sure?”

“Wait,” I said, “where’s Analar?”

Aluce’s face radiated excitement as she said, “It’s a large
island a couple hundred kilometers from the mainland.” She passed glances
between my parents before turning back to me with a grin. “It’s also one of the
king’s strongholds.”

A few days later, it was strange to pack my most treasured
items deep inside my trunk. I sorted through the multihued agates I’d collected
over the years, pieces of cloth from favorite articles of clothing, and dried
bits of coral and sea shells found on reef dives. I laughed at some of the
island jewelry I’d attempted to make in past years and cradled the raven haired
cloth doll that had been my constant companion before Sai had come along.

I stacked pieces of my past, bit by bit, inside that box,
hoping they would remain safe, stowed away in our little hut while I was away.
I wondered if I would ever see any of it again, but if I found a way to come
back to the island, I knew I wanted the beautiful tapestry of memories I’d created
waiting for me just as I'd left them.

When I got to the last item, the heart shaped rock Sai had
made into a necklace for me a year ago, I tied it around my neck. If I had to
wear the gem necklace, I would also wear the simple rock given to me out of
love. It would be a reminder of what I hoped might be here if I ever returned.