Page 4 of Emergence of Fire
“Are you crazy? Torin, you must be. It brought me to my knees. The force of her magic is so strong it passed through the Realms. Do you know what this means?” Gale was bouncing with excitement. It’s infectious, I want to feel what he is feeling. What if we’re wrong?
“I want nothing more than for this feeling—” Adrian pauses as he points to his chest, “—for this fire burning inside of me to be real.” He sighs and looks down at the ground, as if the soil has the answer.
“So, you two flew all the way here on a hunch?” I smirk. I know I am being a disbelieving asshole, but I don’t care. A part of me wants to drop everything and search every Realm for her.
“Where do you think she is?” Gale asks us both. Adrian huffs at the question but looks at me expectantly.
“You felt her. We all did. That is why we're here. Get your head in the game, Torin. We need a plan.” Adrian forces out between his teeth. I always thought I was the most aggressive one between us, Adrian is usually slow to anger, simmering away until all of his emotions come spilling out at once.
“What if it is her? What Realm is she even in? Who’s been hiding her? She may not want anything to do with us. We are strangers to her.” I begin to pace and let the insecurities I feel about this entire situation fly out of my mouth. “Besides, can we afford to leave the Realm and our people behind on a wild goose chase?” I stop in front of them and wait. I want to believe; I really want to. If we find her, our Realm would be whole again. We, my brothers and I, would finally be whole.
“We wouldn’t be strangers. At least, not in here.” Gale points to his heart. “That connection is undeniable and if we can feel her, then maybe she can feel us too.” He nods his head, satisfied with what he just said. “I say we go find our girl. We go and find our queen.”
“I second that.” Adrian says as he rubs his chin lost in thought and begins to pace. “We need to get to the portals.” He stops mid-stride and faces me once again.
“The portals are heavily guarded. You know the Barons monitor who arrives and leaves Arcadia every day and night.” I say to them both. The three of us leaving together will not raise suspicion, it’s not like we are leaving our regions unattended with our father’s stepping in for us, they will just assume we’ve gone for trade reasons. This could work in our favor.
“So, are we going to stand around in this field all afternoon and kick dirt around, or are we going to make a move?” Gale asks as he blows out a breath. I can feel his nervous energy from where I am standing as he shuffles from foot to foot. I get it. If Cordelia is somewhere out there, it is our duty to go to her. She will need our protection.
“Do you think anyone else has noticed a change in the air?” Adrian asks, clearly reading my mind. He smirks and shrugs. “Torin, you are thinking hard enough for the three of us. Your thoughts are screaming at me.” Gale laughs and I shoot him a glare.
“Well, he’s not wrong, Torin. Your thoughts are all over the place. What’s with the hesitance?” Gale asks.
“No one else has a connection to her like we do. So no, I don’t think anyone has been alerted to her presence. Yet.” I say answering Adrians unspoken question. Before turning to Gale. “Fear. The fear that this.” I point to my chest. “That this is playing tricks on us. That we are somehow manifesting this feeling because we need her to be alive so bad. We need her so we can feel complete. I’m afraid that this will be the beginning of everything we ever wanted and the start of something that could tear our Realm apart.” Both of them stare back at me and nod their heads yes in understanding.
“Then we find her, and we convince her to come home with us. Surely she will know who we are? Hell, I never got to look at her face but I know in my heart she is mine. Ours. We will fight to keep her safe and show her she is Arcadia’s only hope. We do this together, for our Realm, and our people. We will be by her side until everything is restored.” Adrian’s voice is strong and full of promise and conviction. His steely brown eyes give nothing away normally, but I can see how much this is affecting him.
“Well damn, Adrian, was that a call to arms? Because I am pumped.” Gale nudges Adrian’s shoulder and smiles. It’s clear that Adrian’s words hit him in all the right places. “What do you say, Torin?” Gale looks at me expectantly.
“I say we follow our connection to her through whatever Realm she is in and we find our girl.” I say to them both. I am rewarded with two big smiles and I find myself smiling for the first time in ages. I feel hope from the invisible tug in my chest. The thrum of energy that wasn’t there before feels new and exciting. I want to run toward it, toward her.
We are coming to find you Cordelia.
CHAPTERTHREE
CORDELIA
Ipull up in the driveway of the only home I’ve ever known, besides my flat, of course. I rest my head on the steering wheel. To be honest, I don’t even remember the drive over, my body was on automatic pilot as I made my way over here. I turn my head slightly and stare over at my old family home and I let the calm wash over me.
It’s always been my aunt Twyla and me. It was us against the world. She might be my aunt but she may as well be my mother. My parents died when I was only three months old, and Aunt Twyla raised me. If I had any other family out there, she’s never mentioned them. I can't say I missed out on anything, there was never a dull moment in our house. She always encouraged me to be unapologetic about who I am. Her advice has stuck with me always.
A wave of nostalgia hits me and I smile when the porchlight comes on, it illuminates the hanging dreamcatchers and windchimes strategically placed around the wraparound porch. It reminds me of all the times I attempted to sneak in after a late night, or when I needed saving from a goodnight kiss on a date gone terribly wrong.
Even at night you can’t miss the bright yellow paint of our traditional craftsman style country house. My Aunt steps out of the front door and leans against one of the tapered columns, she nervously looks around the darkness. I catch a glimpse of fear in her eyes briefly before it’s gone and she locks eyes with me. Wrapping her purple robe tightly around her body and rocking on her heals she waves at me to get out of my car.
“What was that about?” I say to myself. I look around as well, wondering what would cause her to be afraid. We’ve always lived out here in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forest, it never bothered me when I lived here. Now I worry about her being out here in this big house by herself. I’ve been meaning to ask her if maybe it was time to move. Our closest neighbors are about a half a mile away. On the odd occasion we’ve had random teenagers pranking the “witchy house”, TP and eggs never bothered her before, has something changed?
Aunt Twyla is a practicing witch, she doesn’t have power or anything, but she has a strong belief in Wicca. When I was a kid, I was all about the celebrations and rituals that surrounded her religious practice. Aunt Twyla taught me about plants, life, and how to heal and treat any ailments at a very young age. I even had my own tiny cauldron. What little girl didn’t want to be a witch at one point in their life? Let’s just say going to school with pointy hats and gothic-style attire was a great conversation starter for the parents during school drop off and pickup. Aunt Twyla never cared. Although, I never got to dance naked under the moonlight, I did sneak a peek once when I was ten. I thought about how traumatized I was. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. My interest eventually faded, like most teenagers I became too cool for the fake magic mumbo jumbo and focused on boys instead. Ugh, talk about a waste of time. I’ve kissed a lot of frogs in my thirty years of life.
I grab my duffle bag and step out of my SUV. I click the locks and make my way around the car. She’s still looking around as I approach, and I stop at the bottom of the steps. A groan leaves my lips, with all the excitement of the night I almost forgot how tired I was. Even though I managed to get a little sleep earlier, I still feel drained. Waking up to a fire and then the drive over, my childhood bed is calling me.
“What’s got you so spooked, Aunty?” I do a jaw cracking yawn, and she finally looks down at me, like she’s clearly distracted or maybe she’s just as tired as I am.
“Nothing, Delia, just come on in. I thought I heard something earlier, probably an animal.” She says in response to my question. Her face is a mask of concentration as she steps down the steps and grabs my bag, pushing me toward the front door.
“You smell of smoke, Delia. Go wash up and meet me in the kitchen. I have a feeling our night is not quite over yet.” The last part she says in a whisper but it didn’t miss my ears.
“Why?” I turn as she closes the door behind us and locks up. She turns and stalls slightly at my question.
