Convergence

I didn’t know where I was when I woke up. My memory of events was foggy at best, but it ended with me in some old cabin. I thought back. Squeak had tried to help me. She jumped at Azazel but he swatted her away like she was a fly. I watched her grow weaker and weaker and did nothing to stop it. Then Azazel was distracted by a group of gnomes. Once he and Rick released me, Squeak transformed and carried me away using the last of my magic.

I got out of the bed and walked around. It seemed like a basic looking cabin in a forest. I went from the bedroom to the front room and looked out of the large window. I glanced from left to right and realized I was back in the magical world.

“You’re awake.”

I turned around and hand to look down. It was my gnome friend, Tyler.

“Yes, thanks.”

“Why would you let your magic be taken?”

“You make it sound like I had a choice.”

“You did have a choice. If you did not allow him to make you feel so inferior, then you would’ve kept your magic and found a way to defeat him.”

“Well, I guess you should’ve said something like that the last time I was here then.” I could see his tiny lips press together. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be taking this out on you when you and your friends helped me twice already.” I buried my head in my hands.

“They aren’t just my friends, Princess.”

My head snapped up. “What did you just call me?”

“You are royalty here, My Queen.”

“No, that’s not what you said. You called me Princess, like my friend Rick used to. It was even his voice.”

The little gnome smiled. “Then your friend has thought to take measures to keep you safe.”

“I don’t understand. Why does everything have to be so confusing?”

“Not confusing, magical. I saw your Rick there holding you for The Dark King. He is forced to behave that way from some ancient family curse. But if he can transfer some of his power to me, then I will be able to protect you in his place.”

“So part of you is Rick?” I already knew the answer to that in his smile.

The gnome grew and transformed into a human. His long, white beard receded into his face and his long white hair shortened and turned into a more modern cut for a boy around my age. Even his blue tunic and brown pants reshaped themselves. He looked just like an average teen only with white hair. A part of me was a little angry that he was taller than me, but it was Rick’s height.

“Your friend gave me a large portion of his magic to protect you.” Even the gnome’s voice sounded younger, but he still had those very same rosy red cheeks.

I laughed. “That’s not all he gave you.” Ashe jumped up on the gnome’s shoulder in all her sleek beauty and chirped out her greeting. I put out my hands. “Hello, Ashe.” She jumped to me and gave me a little snuggle before disappearing in a puff of smoke as was her usual way.

“Are we ready to take back what is rightfully yours?”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“It has been a hard time for you. We will all be waiting when you’re ready. Take your time.” In the time it takes to push a pin in a balloon, the gnome popped back to his normal size complete with a pointed hat and landed gently on the ground before giving me a bow dismissing himself.

I sat looking out the window at all the beauty. Azazel would destroy it for sure. He already destroyed my life and I didn’t want him doing anything bad to anyone else, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I lost my father figure, my crush, my brothers, my real father, and my only real friend all at once. And even though it was a long time ago, I lost my mother. Nothing could ever sting as much as the pain of growing up without her.

“You shouldn’t be so sad, little one.”

I looked all around me for the source of the female voice, but there was no one around.

“You’ve done a great job considering all you’ve been through. You’re strong.”

“Who’s there?” I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror on the wall. Same brown eyes, same dark skin, all older than me. “Mom?”

“Hello, my angel.”

“How is this even possible? Have I completely gone crazy?”

She laughed. “No, you’re not crazy. I’m always with you.”

“Well then why come to me now instead of, I don’t know, earlier during all the other times I’ve ever needed you?”

“It’s not a phone, dear. I can’t just make contact at any time of my choosing. I’m here now only because of your need. Everyone here is helping you because of your need. You are a Howe.”

“So I’ve been told.” A flood of emotions overwhelmed me. Out of all the questions I ever wanted to ask her over the years I could only think of one pressing thing to ask her now. “Why Azazel?”

She raised her eyebrows and her eyes widened for a moment before resigning to my query. “You’ve seen him in his human form, haven’t you? A man like that wanting someone plain like me was just exciting.”

Plain? I scoffed. “All these people and creatures and whatnots keep telling me how powerful our magic is. Even Azazel was curious about why I couldn’t detect the false version of my friend when he came into the house, and you want me to just believe that you didn’t know that man you were in love with was a demon?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“No, why would it be. You either knew what you were doing or….” I realized I was just searching for excuses. “There is no or, you knew exactly what you were doing. Why, Mom?”

“You’re too smart for your own good.” She let out a sigh. “Nothing ever changes. What he was proposing intrigued me. Could we really make a human/demon hybrid whose powers surpassed both of its parents combined?”

“So I was your science experiment? Why would you even wonder that?”

“Your father can be very convincing.”

“Don’t put this on him. I’m asking you why.”

“And I’m telling you.”

“That demon wants nothing more than to kill me.”

She shook her head. “That’s not true. He loves you.”

“Demons don’t love. Are you my mother?”

“Fine.” She took a deep breath. “I wanted power, okay. I wanted more power. I wanted to be the most powerful witch ever to exist and I knew Azazel could help me.”

“To what end? What would you do with all that power?”

“Desire… that’s always how it starts.”

“William Ortega.”

“I was fine with his choice at first, I really was. But knowing about the De Jesus curse and seeing Elaina with him just made me angry. I figured I could keep that unholy alliance from even happening. If I had a baby, it would need protecting. If Azazel had a baby and he wanted it protected, she would have no choice but to obey, and so our alliance was formed.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now.”

“She was only using him to break the curse anyway.”

“She thought her child wouldn’t be forced to follow Azazel anymore? Well, she was wrong about that.”

“So it would seem.”

“You’re just as bad as the rest of them.”

“Kari,” she took a stern tone.

“Well, you are. If you hadn’t been such a selfish bitch trying to steal the heart of a man who didn’t even belong to you, then none of this would be happening. Do you have any idea what I’ve been through? And all this time I’ve been convinced that you were a good person.”

“What’s happened to you? This isn’t the sweet girl I wanted.”

“I wasn’t raised by you, I was raised by a demon.” I walked out of the cabin.

Out of all the thing to find out this had to be one of the worst. I had enough revelations to last me a lifetime. The only innocents throughout this entire ordeal were the creatures of the magical world and Rick. He did what he thought was best to help me and I had to return the favor.

I sat on some hill overlooking a lake. The surface of the water sparkled like millions of jewels in the sunlight. I wanted to save this place if only so I could enjoy such beauty. I understood Azazel’s reasons for wanting to own it as well. Luckily for me, it was mine by inheritance.

I saw a small blue orb—about the size of a basketball—fall from the sky before taking flight over the waters and ground. Something about it caused a bit of worry. It flitted from one area to the next as if looking for something. I watched until it stopped its erratic behavior and sank halfway into the ground. There were blue ripples around it while it was in the ground like the rings of Saturn and it seemed to cruise around the bank of the lake. It made one vertical rotation and changed to look exactly like the moon before heading up the hill to the cabin.

I rushed up and burst inside the cabin. The blue moon orb had appeared to make its way around all of the rooms and came out to greet me. It slid slightly to the left and then slightly right before finding its way to a corner. It slid again, this time it went diagonally across the length of the room in a very quick manner before making one horizontal rotation into a clear, red orb. It started to pulsate and I heard strange noises coming from outside.

“Don’t look outside!” Tyler rushed in from the kitchen area in his larger more human form, but it was too late. I was already staring outside. The sun was growing larger by the moment.

“Is the sun falling out of the sky?” I stood there pointing at it until it made a horizontal rotation and changed into a giant eyeball. “What’s that?” I screamed.

The fire eyeball locked onto me and I heard it roar before crashing into the posts of the covered wraparound porch outside. The force of the pounding increased with each blow and I could hear the boards crack.

Tyler tossed a blanket over the red orb and sheltered me from the falling debris. He led me out of the side door where Ashe was waiting and we took off into the sky. It only took a moment for the sun to notice and then give chase.

“What is that?” I asked.

“An enforcer, My Queen, sent by The Dark King no doubt. The small one was a tracker. They work together to find and capture whatever it is they were contracted to bring back.”

I turned back. “It’s gaining on us. What do we do?”

“Hope for the best.”

He pulled a four-leafed clover from his pocket and blew over the top. The leaves dispersed like they would from a dandelion puff and four horses with wings descended between us and the fire orb.

“Pegasus?” I wondered if there was a plural form but Tyler corrected me.

“Winged horse is the more correct term, my queen. Pegasus is just the name of one.”

The horses only slowed the eyeball but it wasn’t enough.

“The horses are getting singed. What do we do now?”

“My magic isn’t strong enough for the summon animal’s full speed,” Tyler said. “I’m sorry.”

I let my head fall on his back. The magic I had left wasn’t strong enough to summon Squeak at all let alone fly us out of here at a pace fast enough to outrun that eyeball. I wished that there was something I could do, something anyone could do that would help us. A great dragon appeared as mysteriously as the winged horses and as fast as the wind. He took us in his massive claws and darted out of the fire orb’s range in mere moments. I heard the screams of orb grow faint in the distance.

The dragon released us on our own once the enforcer orb was no longer in sight and hadn’t been for a long time. I yelled out my thanks and hoped it heard me before disappearing into the sky. Ashe descended almost the instant she was released and we stopped in the middle of a forest before she disappeared.

“Are you okay?” I judged Tyler’s reactions. Ashe left so quickly but he didn’t seem tired at all.

“I will be fine, My Queen. The summon creature can only pull from the energy of her master. His stores may be depleted but mine are not. She’s back with him now.” He took my hand and headed deeper into the woods.

“You can’t share your powers with her?”

“I could.”

“Then why don’t you?”

He stopped walking. “Is that an order, My Queen?”

“No, it was just a question.”

“Forgive me. I know her master is your friend, but as a servant to The Dark King, I cannot risk letting any of my magic mix with his. I might fall to The Dark King’s will. Just having any of his magic at all puts me at risk.”

“Oh. So you can compartmentalize your magic?”

“Yes, My Queen.” He continued on his journey. “I will teach if you wish, but it may take some time.”

“Just seems like something that would’ve been nice to know a long time ago, that’s all. Where are we going anyway?”

“To a safe place.”

“To what end?” We stopped moving again. “You were all gung ho about attacking Azazel earlier and now you just want to hide me? I can’t just keep letting him get stronger.”

“Forgive me. I was only trying to keep you hidden. I didn’t realize you were ready now.”

“I’m not ready. I’ll never be ready for something like that, but the longer I take to go back to him the stronger he gets.”

“Just tell me what you need and we’ll do it.”

“How can I take back my power?”

He smiled. “Tell it what you need and it will obey. It’s a feeling you get inside. Knowing what your power feels like makes controlling it so much easier.”

I groaned and fell to the ground. “Well, how about the other creatures? Surely with the amount of magic in this place, all of us together can find a way to overthrow him.”

Tyler shook his head. “All of us together are still no match against The Dark King, especially if he found a way to control Howe magic. We can’t stop him, but we may be able to delay him long enough for you to make contact.”

“I have to touch him to be able to control my power?”

“Yes.”

I let out a huge sigh. “So when can we start?”

He just stood there smiling at me.

“Let me guess, ‘just say the word,’ right?”

He gave a nod.

“Well then, let’s get this started at like dawn or something. Gather as many who are willing to help stand by my side. We’ll come up with a plan.”

“Yes, My Queen.”