Heritage (16 page)

“Thank you your highness” She limped out of the room, and I could hear her distant footsteps, as they hit the wooden steps. I glared back at Lorias as he gestured for me to take a seat again. Holding my stare he sighed and took the seat himself. The open fire crackled as a demon placed another log on the open flame.

“You know why you’re here”

“Actually….” I began.

“That wasn’t a question” He interrupted. “Take a seat”

“I’d rather stand”

“Well aren’t you just a ball of fun”

I smiled and walked over to the lit fireplace. The fire crackled, and embers danced around the open flame. Turning towards the room full of demons I un clenched my fist from around my knife. I’m not scared of these guys, I’m pretty sure if they wanted me dead I would be.

“You have something I want” He continued.

“The boots are from Next, but I’m sure they don’t have your size” I mocked with a smile.

“Cute very cute” He laughed.

The demons laughed in unison as Lorias did, the awkward laughter filled the boarded up room. Lorias lifted his hand and the room fell silent. He sighed and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

“You know what I want!” He exclaimed through clenched teeth. His fist clenched as they rested on his knees.

“Are you getting stressed” I mocked stepping towards him. Standing up instantly he tensed as I moved forward.

“I want the stones, and you will give them to me” He threatened.

“I have no idea what you are talking about” I lied. Feeling the stone in my pocket burn, he lunged towards me grasping at my jacket. Pulling out the knife from my pocket I stabbed his hand as the stone fell out of my jacket. Demon after demon tried to pick it up as Lorias froze me in place. They all burnt to cinders as soon as they touched it. Releasing me from his hold Lorias screwed up his face and hissed.

“This isn’t over”

“Really there’s me thinking it would be that easy” I replied sarcastically.

“You really have no idea do you” he laughed.

“Your mother would turn in her grave if she knew what a good little girl you had become. She created you for a reason and her twin your aunt Merial Ha. She tried her best, but not even the greatest Goddess duo can help you now. Your mother was evil Adabelle, and you too will become just like her” He spat.

“What are talking about?”

“You will find out, remember your not all good little girl. The other half of you will come out sometime!” He exclaimed as he shimmered away.

A gust of wind rippled through the empty room blowing out the fire.

I heard Alex as she her footsteps reached the top of the staircase.

“What happened?” She asked.

“Nothing, Did Tiffany get out alright?” I replied making my way to the door.

“Yeah she’s fine. What did he want?”

“The stone funnily enough” I muttered. Picking the box and the stone from the floor I placed it back in my pocket. Making my way back down the winding stair case the ice cold wind chilled my bones.

“I’m going to head back to the Bales, and research things” I muttered as Alex ran out of the windmill after me.

“Elle?”She put her arm around my shoulders, shaking her off I walked towards the empty fields ahead.

“FINE! I’ll see you later” She yelled. Ignoring her I walked into the dark emptiness.

Climbing over a broken picket fence and landing in an over grown field. The sense of freedom had my thoughts confused. Everything was going upsie daisy. Why hadn’t my father told me about my mother, why did I have to hear it from a cocky demon.  All these things I did for him with no questions asked and he couldn’t tell me about my heritage. I was so angry I collapsed in the middle of the field crushing the overgrown grass.

“I told you he was trouble” Logan whispered as he stood over me. I was so angry and disorientated, that I couldn’t lift up the energy to be alarmed by his presence.

“What do you want? To finish the job, well sorry bucko but that’s against even your rules. No royal can personally kill another. It's immediate death and I’m pretty sure in your eyes,  I ain’t worth dying for.”I Jeered. The sky was dark, but the stars brightened it up in places. I wonder if I lie here long enough I could see a consolation or even a shooting star, I was in need of a wish now.

“Ouch! Wow your cranky” he laughed and sat down next to me. Giving him a dirty look I sat up and hit him lightly on the shoulder.

“OW! And I followed Lorias to see what he was doing. He’s going against all orders by meeting with you” He sighed.

“What do you know and skip the bullshit I’m so, not in the mood”

“Feisty I like that” He teased. Giving him a dirty look he chuckled.

“I know that Lorias is out of control and a crazy moron, but I don’t know what he wants with you and why he needed to meet you.”

He placed his cheeks on his hand and stared at me with his gorgeous blue eyes.  I wonder if he could read thoughts because if he can I’m in deep trouble. He was still staring so that would say that he didn’t, or he would have made some sort of facial expression.

“Ugh!” I yelled covering my eyes with my hands. Everything was so out of control, it made an episode of Jeremy Kyle look like an episode of the Brady bunch.

“I’ll sort him ok. Don’t worry about him,” He reassured, Standing up leaving a Logan shaped moulded in the flatten grass.

“It’s not your problem, its mine,” I sighed taking his offer of his hand, to pull me up off the ground. He held my hand for a couple more seconds and lifted it to his lips. As he kissed my hand, my stomach flipped, and my head felt slightly light headed.

“Nice seeing you again, your highness” He dropped my hand and shimmered away. I was left in the empty field alone with my spinning head and beating heart that was starting to slow down. Great a crazy demon on my case and a seriously hot demon prince, making my heart skip beats. Well I can never say my life was boring.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I may be in the middle of a field, but technology was bound to bring me back into the reality of my double life.

“Hey Poppy” I answered.

“Hey, you alright? What you doing?” She asked.

“Oh I’m great, I’m just you know…relaxing” I chuckled. Hanging out in a field after a meeting with a crazed demon, the usual.  The air grew colder and whipped my hair around my face. It swept around me like ice as it picked up.

“Hey, Friday night do you fancy going Fireflies? Everyone else is up for it” She chimed. It felt weird talking to her about a normal night out with friends in an empty field. The grass swayed back and forth more vigorously than it had before. It began to move as if it was caught a whirlwind.

“Yeah sure why not” I answered not really concentrating on what she asked.

“Awesome! See you tomorrow”

“ Yeah, Bye” I whispered. Putting the phone in my pocket, the wind blew me back several feet.

“What the hell?” The grass was blowing frantically as the gale whipped through the field.

“
Adabelle
” It whispered as it blew across my face. That’s too weird. I’ve heard stories of whispers in the wind, but I never thought it was true.

“
Adabelle
” the whisper turned in to a voice as the wind picked up in speed. It took all my strength to stay in the one place, as everything around me was swaying.

“
Come to me
” It yelled. The voice became distinct, and it sounded like a woman. Her voice was delicate but also harsh like a fine needle.

“COME TO ME!”
It screamed as a bolt of air threw me across the open field and straight into the wooden picket fence. Ouch, what the hell’s with this weather. Picking up my body and shaking the splinters of wood from my jumper. I used a force field to blow wind back at the wind, fight it at its own game I think.

“Who are you” I yelled. Boy do I feel stupid as my voice bellowed into the silent field.  The wind fell as if my voice had turned off its power, the field stood still and silent.

“
Broken but cured by ignorance
” it whispered silently. The wind blew lightly and brushed the leaves on the oak tree behind the picket fence, making them scatter.

“Show yourself”

“
I have no face, I have no form, my soul is carried on the wind, name me if you dare”

“Alright Rumpelstiltskin. What do you want then?” I asked the star filled sky.

“
You are but a course in the direction of the floating sky, but remember there are other clouds wanting to collide”
The final whisper lingered in the wind as it disappeared through the grass.

“Right, that makes a hell of a lot of sense,” I sighed and trudged through the uncut grass. Right my minds going to explode into a million pieces and scatter all over this field. All that blowing wind has made me cold.

Taking in a deep breath of fresh air into my lungs, I orbed out of the empty field and ended up in the comfort of my bedroom. The four walls felt claustrophobic and too closed in from the big wide open field.  I need a very long comatose sleep.

Chapter nine

Friday came around quickly. Maybe it was the worrying, researching and finding absolutely nothing on my mother or the strange voice in the field.  It could even have been the fact, that Alex and Josh tiptoed around me in case I would Jekyll and Hyde them.  As I had done a dozen times before this week, I slammed the book shut. Another dead end, this whole library was filled with millions of books.  Filled with things from hellhounds to dragons, why an earth could I find nothing.

“Nothing yet then?,” Josh whispered, glancing at Katelyn who was listening intently to our conversations.

“No,  it’s useless” I whispered, giving Katelyn a smile which made her turn back to stacking the books.

“Why don’t you ask your father?” Alex asked silently. In an attempt to say the question we all wanted to know the answer to, without actually saying it. I didn’t really know why I didn’t ask my father, he was the one who knew all the answers about everything.

“Because he should have been the one to tell me in the first place” I sighed, resting my chin on the pile of books in front of me.

“What if..” I stuttered.

“What if what? This means you’re a seriously evil demon or that your destiny is to rule the underworld.  Chill Elle ok, this doesn’t change anything!” Josh whispered angrily. The vein on his neck pocking out of his skin.

“Just because this arrogant prick says that your mother is a demon. So what, she’s always been that way and you have always been the way you are. So why does this change anything? It doesn’t, so stop trying to convince yourself that you’re this evil thing that needs to be taken care of”

He finished and took a deep breath. His hands had begun to grow hairier as he became stressed. Why was he getting stressed at me, I don’t know what I was thinking.

“Take it easy Josh she has a lot on her plate at the moment” Alex slapped him on the back of the head and smiled at me.

“Talk to him Elle, you have to”

Katelyn pulled the books from under my chin as I began to speak. My teeth caught my tongue as my chin hit the table. I cried out in pain as Katelyn glared at me.

“Ow Katelyn!”

“You children need to be out doing something productive, instead of cluttering up my library” She growled, collecting the books off our table and slotting them into her wooden trolley.

"Gone are the days when adults wanted children to learn," Josh remarked with a cocky grin. A giggle escaped my mouth as Katelyn shot me a dirty look. If looks could kill I’d be a dead woman.

“We are researching Katelyn, and as this will all be Elle’s one day, I think she has the right to use it don’t you?”

Alex’s tone sounded as if she was daring Katelyn to respond. It’s not like she isn’t right, this will all be mine soon everything. The thought of that made me drop my head into my hands. Too much responsibility that I wouldn’t be able to cope, it’s a good job it’s a full ten years away.

“Alexandra! That may be true, but you have no right to address me in that tone nor you Joshua. Your mother will be hearing about this” Katelyn threw one last dirty look in my direction and waddled off amongst the book cases.

“Wait Katelyn” I shouted. Standing up so fast my chair squeaked as I pushed it out. I could feel their eyes on me as I walked up to Katelyn.

“You know this library pretty well right?” I asked as she gave me a seriously disapproving look.So what, now I wasn’t allowed to speak to her without her permission. Ignoring her screwed up face, I continued.

“I’m looking for information about goddess Merial. Do you know where I could find any?” I asked. Katelyn’s face dropped as I said Merial’s name. If Katelyn knew I was researching Merial, then she would know I was trying to find information about my mother and knowing her snooty tell tale nature. She will go straight to my father and then he would have to tell me everything he knew. Quite a good plan even if I do say so myself.

“No,  there is no information in any of these books that will help you sorry. May I ask why you were researching about her?” She asked with her nose in the air.

“Personal reasons” I answered. Giving her a smile, I walked back to my awaiting friends who had their mirrored puzzled expression on their faces.

“Who says I need to ask my father? I have a feeling he will tell me himself” I smiled. I felt rather happy with myself.

“Sneaky,” Josh laughed, standing up and ruffling my hair with his fist.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Alex sighed picking up her bag and pushing in her chair.

Another evening in the library with no information to show for it, the only book that even had her picture in was the Ruins of our souls. I wish I could look at the book again. Josh hadn’t had time to pick it up after he jumped out of the window, during the thunder storm attack. It was gone when he eventually came back.

“Adabelle” A small voice coughed from behind me. Turning around, a small elf with a single tuff of hair on his head smiled at me. Tugging on his green suit he took a bow.

“Permission to speak your highness” He squeaked raising his head.

“Permission granted”

I’d never been asked for permission to speak before, it felt quite powerful. He held out his little hand and gestured for me to come closer. Looking around me, I knelt down on my knees and put my head closer to his.

"Look in the Kings private library," He said, covering his mouth so I could barely hear his muffled voice.

“My father doesn’t have a private library”

“Just look,” he hastily rushed off into the library and was lost amongst the books.  Why doesn’t it surprise me that my father has a secret library.

“I’m telling you elves are weird!” Josh murmured.

“ADABELLE GABRIEL!”

My father’s voice got to us before he stormed into the library. The doors banged against the wall as he entered.

“Wow Katelyn is quick,” I whispered to Alex and Josh before they scattered away. Rolling my eyes I approached my father and smiled at him with a sweet smile.

“
My office now!”
He spoke through his telepathy. Whatever he wanted to say, he obviously doesn’t want to disturb the peace.

Sitting in his office I couldn’t take my eyes off the portrait of Merial on the wall. Staring at it I saw that it wasn’t her. Her eyes were golden, this woman’s eyes were hazel. I’m guessing that picture was my mother. My stomach turned as my father tapped his fingers impatiently on his desk.

“I wish you would leave things alone Elle!” He yelled making the room shake.

“What are you talking about father?” I asked sweetly. Holding back the sarcasm that I wanted to let escape.

“Why are you being so hard?” He asked. Ignoring him I continued to stare at the picture.

“You know don’t you” He sighed.”I wanted to tell you Elle”

“Then why didn’t you, instead of leaving it to a demon?” I asked. I peeled my eyes away from her picture and looked at him straight in the eyes.

“I didn’t want you to find out like this...”
“So why didn’t you tell me?”

“I…”

“It’s a simple question dad.”

“Not a simple answer” He replied. Pushing his chair out and standing up, he crossed the room. He stopped in front of the portrait I had been staring at.

“She was beautiful, I fell in love with her the first time I saw her. That story you know,  but as you have heard she was a goddess and the twin of Merial. Lily was amazing she had so much power in her. She could have done so much good in the world, but she wanted more. She was tempted by bigger things and she well… got in with the bad crowd and turned into an even more powerful demon. She fell from the heaven right onto Satan’s lap you could say” He sighed and walked towards the open window. After a few seconds of complete silence with only our heartbeats to fill the time, he continued.

“I was worried that if you knew you would do something stupid” he explained.

“WHAT!” I yelled. I couldn’t keep it in. All this doubt in my mind was in his to. So even he thought I was in line to self combust and go dark side.

“You are so much like her” He smiled and walked towards me. Jumping out of my chair I backed away from him.

“You think I’m a demon?” I stuttered. This was mad, even my own father didn’t trust me.

“No! Calm down”

“You think I’m evil? I thought you knew me”

“I do Elle I…I” he stuttered taking another step towards me. I mirrored him and stepped back.

“I mean, your mother lived for the day just like you. I know you’re not evil”

He sighed taking me in his arms. Taking in his scent I surrendered and hugged him back.

“Is that everything that I need to know” I asked.

“Yes but, please tell me you won’t look into it further” He asked. Pushing him away I backed up into the doors.

“Why?” I asked stubbornly. What else was he hiding. If that was everything about my mother, then why didn’t he want me to dig anymore.

“When did you stop listening to me Elle?” He barked.

“When you started lying to me,” I responded opening the door and running out.

“ELLE GET BACK HERE” he yelled as I ran down the corridor. Stopping at the end I turned to face him.

“It’s obvious that you’re lying to me, which means you don’t trust me. It’s obvious my existence has started up some hidden evil that not even I can hear about. It’s my life, it’s my mum, and It’s my heritage.  So I’m going to find it out myself. I don’t care what you say. Your say in what I say or do went out the window when you started keeping secrets from me. Bye!” I yelled orbing out of the corridor and into my room at the Bales.

I’m in definite need of a drink now. So let’s evaluate shall we Elle, the events of this weird week have shown you that. Your mother was not only a twin and a goddess. She was also an Evil demon, I have a mad crazed demon on my case. Oh and just to finish the lot off, your hearing voices in the wind. Yeah I think a drink or four is defiantly on the cards. The sound of my ringtone brought me out of my trance.

“Hello” I answered collapsing onto my bed.

“Ok, so meet me and Carrie outside of yours at eight. Then we are heading into town to meet the others. Think you will be ready in time?” Poppy babbled through the phone.

“What time is it now?” I asked in a daze.

“Half Seven”

“Yeah, sure I’ll be ready see you then”

Shutting the phone I closed my eyes and sighed.  Thank you oh mighty creator for this life you have given me, I hope your having fun watching me suffer.

Pulling myself together, I stood up and made my way to my miniature wardrobe. There is absolutely nothing in here I can wear to go out. I need my grey dress and floral net leggings. Closing my eyes and picturing the clothes, I opened them and twirled in front the mirror. Yes,  this was the perfect outfit and now for the hair. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something I could use my powers for.  Dragging a brush through the mop I call hair and rummaging through the box of hair accessories on the floor. I pulled out a star clip and shoved it in my hair.

“As usual this is the best it’s going to get” I sighed.

“Elle!,” He whispered, making me jump and freeze him in the space of a second. I wish people would understand that I hate it when they jump out at me.  I think I like Logan when he isn’t talking, I didn’t have to un freeze him I could just look at him. Ok Elle that’s turning Psycho, plus he must be here for a reason. It’s not every day a demon jumps into my bedroom, well not the one in the Bales house anyway. Raising my hand I unfroze him.

“Did you just...” He asked.

“What do you want Logan” I Interrupted. I think I best sit down for this. Sitting down on the edge of my bed, I faced him as he continued to stand by the window.

“Nice room, it’s a tad on the small side though, compared to yours in the castle...” Giving him an accusatory look he continued.

“That I know of” He smiled a cocky side grin and took a seat next to me.

“Is there a particular reason you are here Logan, or can you just not keep away from me”

Slightly smiling I bent down to find my grey boots that were hiding under the bed. Trying but failing to look decent, I pulled out one boot and put it on.

“Bit of both really” He smirked holding his palm out, and my other boot appeared in his hand.  Ok that was cool, why didn’t I think to do that. Taking it from his hand and thanking him, I placed it on my other foot.

“But seriously, I need you to help me” He explained.

“What with?” I asked.

“Well, ok just listen before you go all Elle Psycho on me ok?”

What was he up to, demons don’t ask angels for help. Well only in serious situations like, I don’t know, the sky falling down. His serious eyes fixed on his face as he waited for my reply.