I walked toward the doors. That voice sounded impossibly familiar. I knew that voice, but it couldn’t be...
The doors burst open. Wesley and Jerome held back a man as he struggled against them, kicking out, clawing at them.
“We tried,” Jerome said between heavy breaths. “But he’s very agitated.”
The room tilted under me, my ears ringing.
“Bellamy,” Kairoth said, his voice distant.
I stumbled back into his chest as spittle flew from the man’s mouth, his face purple with rage as he fought his way forward.
“I want to know where I am!” he cried.
“Bellamy,” Kairoth said, staring at me intently.
“That man,”I signed with trembling hands.“He’s my father.”
This couldn’t be happening.It wasn’t possible. My father wasn’t immortal. He hadn’t been alive for thousands of years. I’d know something like that. He would’ve shared it with me and my brothers. He’d never keep such a big secret.
But even as I tried to convince myself of these things, a pit formed in my stomach at all the inconsistencies over the years. How my brothers and I had these strange powers that went beyond what star elementals should’ve been able to do. How my father’s entire family had been dead since he was a small boy. My brothers had always told me my father rarely talked about them, didn’t like to mention them. How he’d never talked about his childhood, said he liked fiction far better than the truth. Howhe somehow never aged. My brothers always joked my father looked the same as he had when they were younger, that he had the best genes and they hoped he’d passed those genes onto them.
I couldn’t breathe. I put a hand to my chest, the room spinning, everything growing blurry. Kairoth called my name. I blinked, trying to focus my vision.
“Bell?” That voice cut through everything, and my gaze sharpened on the man who spoke.
My father.
“You’re here,”I signed.
“Bell,” he said, his voice breaking, face crumpling.
Just like that, all my anger melted away.
I lurched forward as Jerome and Wesley finally let my father go. He opened his arms, and I fell into them. He’d always been so tall, towering over me and my brothers until Jorah eventually outgrew him, but now he seemed frail, shrunken down. His eyes were shrunk into their sockets, purple smudges under them. His black hair was wild and sticking in all directions. Stains and holes covered his clothes.
“Where are we?” my father asked.
I pushed away from him.“We’re safe.”
His brown eyes darkened. “Why can’t you speak?” His gaze snapped to Kairoth. “What have you done to her?”
I tapped his chest to get his attention.“Not his fault. Curse. Stepmother. I cannot speak until I break it.”
My father paled. “Yes, yes, of course.” He cupped my cheek. “You brave, brave girl. You always have been so determined. Led by the beat of your own drum. Where are your brothers?”
“Here,”I signed.“Safe for now.”
“Swans,” he murmured. “Beautiful creatures.” He grabbed his hair, pulling at it. “Such beautiful creatures.” He began sobbing and fell to his knees.
I shot a look at Kairoth.“What’s wrong with him?”
Kairoth stared at me with wide eyes that glowed red. His shadows hissed and shot out, then latched back onto him. He was staring at me like he’d never seen me before. “I think you need to read that journal, Bellamy. And then we need to talk.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
YEAR ???, THE NEW WORLD
Dear Kairoth,
