Nephilius - A Walker Saga Book 5 (8 page)

We stepped through to the other side,
Cerberus last, and then Refis simply placed the brick back into the
same spot he’d removed it from and the wall was whole again.
Simple. But very effective.

I’d be
loving this pixie world a hell of a lot more if I knew we could
escape. And there it was again: the panicky thoughts attacking me.
I couldn’t trace or open a doorway, I couldn’t contact anyone. I’d
tried with Josian, Lallielle and Quarn, but had
received no response. I ached so badly for Brace and his
voice in my head, but alas, Lucy and I were on our own.

“You haven’t heard Colt since we got here,
right?” I asked her.

Lucy shook her head. “Nope, nothing. It’s as
if communications are blocked from one side to the other.”

There was no more time to chat as Refis was
on the move again, and I finally had a moment to really notice the
new room we’d arrived in.

Wow, totally
unlike the dark and narrow stone hall we’d been in, this was a
huge
space filled with massive
ceiling-high windows that let in shining beams of light. The
movement of these rays played across the polished wooden floor and
up the walls, which were a cream color and decorated with a
collection of detailed art works. I exhaled loudly as my eyes
alighted on the area that was in the far section of this room. We
were heading toward a library. The floor-to-ceiling shelves were
loaded with books – thousands of pieces of glorious
literature.

“No freaking way,” I said as we moved
closer. “Dream. Room. That is all.”

Lucy was nodding, her mouth half-open as she
gawked.

It wasn’t until we were halfway across the
space, our footsteps silent as we crossed the smooth seamless
floor, that I noticed her. The female was nestled into a comfy
chair, a large book held in her hands. I couldn’t see her features
very well. Her head was down as she read, but hair in shades of
green and gold shimmered in the sunlight. Refis’ steps slowed as we
reached the rug which separated the library from the other
areas.

“Your majesty,” Refis said, his tone low and
respectful.

The woman did not look up; she was
thoroughly engrossed in her book.

The pixie took another step closer. “Queen.”
He tried again, before finally, with a little more bite.
“Mother!”

Her head shot up, eyes in flower patterns of
blue and gold stared at us and I let out a distinct gasp that
echoed across the space. For two reasons. Firstly, I’d had no idea
that our guide was the prince of pixies. And secondly, the woman,
who had her cold, hard eyes locked on us, was the green-skinned
version of my best friend.

“Refis, what are you doing here? And how
dare you bring strangers into my home.” She stood, a flowery gown
made of something like gossamer, but a million times silkier,
flowed to her bare feet. She was around four and a half feet tall.
Hair of sunshine and dark green, the same shade as Refis’, curled
down to her ankles.

“Well, eff me.” Lucy swallowed, clearing her
throat a few times. “Unless I’m very much mistaken – are you
missing one child? Blond, awesome, with a strange affinity for
seeing the future?”

Lucy’s words drew the queen’s attention. The
book fell from her hands, landing with no noise on the plush
carpet.

“Laelorn?” she whispered, her hands resting
against her cheeks. “Refis, what is the meaning of this?” She
didn’t remove her eyes from Lucy.

“What I was trying to tell you earlier when
you refused to speak with me.” His voice didn’t change, but the
hurt was in his eyes, not to mention the slight tremble of his chin
and drooping of his shoulders. “Lucy was called through the portal.
She says she’s half-pixie and had a vision of how to find us.”

The queen, Malisna, turned away then. It was
odd, though, because she was just facing a blank wall, and she
stayed like that for a long time. Lucy and I took our cue from
Refis and stood silently, waiting for … something to happen.

Finally, when I couldn’t stand it any
longer, knowing we had to get out of this land as soon as possible,
I took a step forward. But a green hand on my arm stopped me.

“It’s better if she reaches the conclusion
on her own. She’s shut out the world for a long time, but this is
the most emotion I’ve seen in years.” His voice was very low. “Give
her a moment.”

Cerberus did not like Refis holding me back.
His low growl started until the pixie removed his hand.

“You have stolen my companion.” The queen’s
voice snapped into the silence. “But I cannot bring myself to
care.”

When she turned back to us, her eyes brimmed
with unshed tears. Then Lucy started to do that strange dancing
thing which had pulled us into pixie land. Her body danced in
swirls across to the queen.

“Do you know me?” She stopped moving when
she reached Malisna. “Because I feel as if …” Lucy broke off and
looked around. “Have I been here before?”

Malisna smiled for the first time. “It was
this room in another place. You are my daughter Laelorn, and you
were stolen from me.”

“I’m called Lucy now,” my friend said,
before reaching out as if to grasp the queen’s hands. But she
pulled back at the last minute, biting her lip for a moment, and
then in true Lucy style, more words burst from her. “Tell me
everything.”

Malisna
studied her closely, before making the move to take her hand. She
was smaller than Lucy, but not by much. They looked delicate
and
ethereal together. Malisna led my
friend toward a two-seated chair covered in brightly colored
cushions. Shifting these aside, they both sat and faced each
other.

The queen spoke straight away. “Like all
long-lived races, pixies struggle to produce offspring. I had a
betrothed, but there were no children from our union, and then when
he was killed I decided to search out another fey in the hope that
this was the key to our race’s survival.”

Her tears had dried. She looked perfect
again. She slowly raised her free hand from where it was tangled in
the silk of her dress and captured Lucy’s other hand. “He was a
prince of faerie – seelie – powerful, with many abilities. I
couldn’t believe it, but our union was fruitful. We were blessed
with a child. There was so much joy upon my pregnancy. And so much
sorrow when you were stolen.”

I was paused on my toes, ready to spring
forward if Lucy needed me. But except for the astonishment written
across her features, she seemed to be okay.

“So who stole me?” Lucy’s voice quivered.
“Why?”

Stormy clouds of anger descended over the
fair queen’s face. The blue of her eyes darkened to black, and she
looked set to bring the wrath of the gods down at any moment.

“
Your father
– the prince – took you from me.” She was tapping a small bare foot
in rhythmic patterns. “He came to me spouting nonsense about
prophecy and end of days and how faerie and
pixie should not create life.”

A yawn crept up on me, again
with this prophecy bullshit. How could so many sane, rational
creatures place so much importance on random poems muttered by
crazy people? The queen caught my exaggerated sigh and the blue of
her eyes returned.

“Your friend is correct. I
cared little for the unreliable information he relayed. But I
underestimated him.”

Lucy pulled her hands free then, and the
queen lowered her eyes, long lashes draping against her cheeks. But
then Lucy surprised us all by reaching out and hugging Malisna. It
was a pure and spontaneous moment, and from what I could see of the
queen’s expression, she wore a mix of agony and joy on her tight
features.

They pulled away and stared at each other
for long moments. As if they were learning and familiarizing
themselves, but no words were spoken.

To give them
a few
minutes privacy, I wandered over to
the shelves, and when Refis didn’t stop me I figured it was okay to
peruse the books. There were so many. I gently touched a fingertip
to the spine of one that caught my attention. The title didn’t seem
to be written in English, but still it felt as if I should know
what it was saying. Behind me Malisna and Lucy had resumed their
conversation. I listened as I moved along the shelves, still
touching the books.

“Where have you been, daughter?” Malisna
asked.

A glance
over my shoulder told me that her immediate acknowledgement of
their mother-daughter relationship seemed to surprise no one but
me. Shaking my head, I
turned back to the
shelves. Thinking back to my first meeting with my parents, I
couldn’t imagine that level of immediate acceptance.

“
I was on
Earth …” Lucy started our story, and then proceeded to fill Malisna
in on the last eighteen years of our li
ves. Condensed version. She touched heavily on the
Seventine and everything that had been happening there. The pixies
were very out of the loop of current power struggles. They’d been
stuck here in their little bubble.

I pulled a large black book from the shelf.
It looked ancient, bound in some type of parchment or animal skin.
I could feel the oils under my fingers, and I hoped it was okay for
me to touch it.

“That is the book of origin,” Refis said. He
moved closer to my side. “We hold it, but none have the knowledge
any longer to read the information.”

I wondered if there was anything in there
which might help us fight the Seventine. If it was pixie origin, I
doubted it, but maybe we should see if any Walkers could read the
text. Refis was watching me closely, so I placed it back on the
shelf.

I realized that Malisna and Lucy had moved
and were standing with us.

The queen
looked up to meet my gaze. “Pixies were long ago spiritual guides
for Walkers. Our races have been both friends and enemies. But
mostly friends. Lucy’s tale tells me that there was more to the
faerie
prophecy than I thought. The fact
that you both ended up in the same place on Earth. Both of you are
important, and you are bonded.”

That
was
interesting and possibly vitally
important information, but right now we didn’t have time for
chatting.

“I really want to hear more about
pixie-Walker relationships, but we need to leave soon.” I had to
stop my hand reaching for the book again. “I have to get out of
here and collect all seven half-Walkers before the final Seventine
is released.”

Malisna smiled then. For the first time it
was real and showcased her pure joy. I almost closed my eyes
against the light and love sparkling from her.

“The blood of my soul, the tears of my loss
and strands of my daughter’s hair bound us to this prison,” she
said. “Now we have all of those thing again to reverse that which I
wrought.”

Refis inhaled in one long breath. “Yes, Lucy
is the key.”

“The road to perdition is treacherous. Many
creatures do not want us to be free,” Malisna warned. “I would not
ask this of my daughter after just finding you again.”

Lucy dropped her eyes and pushed back
strands of hair. “I have no choice. We have to leave.”

“Don’t you want to be free, Mother?” Refis
looked like a child as he stared up, his vulnerability across his
features.

“Brother,” Lucy gasped, realization coating
her tone. “You’re my brother.”

Refis grinned. “Yes. I am. Your much, much
older brother.”

It was so
strange how parallel Lucy and my stories were. Hidden on Earth,
magical families we knew nothing of, a half-brother, and she’d been
sent to the same compound as me in response to another
prophecy. Layer upon layer, the battle to save
the world was complex, twisting and turning. We learned something
new, only to have ten different paths open up to us.

Lucy and Malisna had started chatting again.
They were desperate to know everything of each other. I could see
that by the way their voices trilled and hurried over each piece of
information. Right now Lucy was telling them about Colton.

“You know he’s going to think you’re dead,”
I reminded her. “We need to get out of here before he does
something stupid.”

Walkers aren’t exactly known for their calm,
rational thinking when it comes to their mates.

“Oh, eff,” Lucy said, “I’m new to this mate
business. I forgot how insane he’d go when he couldn’t sense me any
longer.”

She reached out and gripped her mother and
brother’s hands.

“Please show us the way out of here.”

She was finally pulling herself together,
knowing we needed to leave.

“I cannot let you go alone,” Malisna said.
“Give me a moment.” Just before she left she turned to me. “Take
the book with you. If it’s calling you like this, there must be a
reason.”

And with a swish of her silk gown she left
the room. I glanced down and realized that the large tome was in my
hands again. When had that happened?

Lucy distracted me by turning to face me,
her eyes wide, unshed tears brimming in them.

“Not what I expected,” she finally gasped
out.

“Word,” I snorted. “Girl, you’re a
princess.” I wanted to cheer her up.

A small laugh escaped her. “I’ve been
telling you that for years and you never believed me.”

She wasn’t even kidding.

Malisna and Refis led the way from the
castle. They took us through a series of underground tunnels, just
in case the goblins were still hanging around. Cerberus stayed
close to my side, and already I was getting used to him as my
wingdog.

Malisna had
changed out of her gossamer dress and into something similar to
Refis, only the female version. Two-piece
, organic, leafy attire. Well, that’s what it looked like,
but it was much sturdier than actual leaves. As if it was weaved by
tiny delicate strands of vines, over and over until it formed a
seamless outfit, impenetrable to outside forces. She wore no shoes,
but when one could fly, one didn’t need footwear.