Tempest's Journey -pt 2 Dusk was creeping across the vast lands of Olanthi, stealing the bright rays of light that were shining through the tall stained glass windows of the library and replacing them with the dark glow of night. Olanthi was a completely different world when darkness fell. All the creatures that slept through the day came alive as the sun fell behind the mountains. New lights sprang to #life. Plants bloomed and shone with an bioluminescence that you couldn’t imagine until you finally saw it. Not that I would ever get to see it so long as I was stuck in this god forsaken library. “Can we leave?” I slammed the overly large book that i’d been drooling over shut and shoved it away. “After going through every book, scroll, parchment, and ancient scribble in this place, I think we can agree that there is nothing here about the Angelwings.” On the other side of the room I saw just the top of Dominic’s head appear over a stack of books, and then disappear. His voice sounded disembodied. “I think we can agree that it’s impossible for there not to be something somewhere about them. They’re not the first and hopefully won’t be the last.” I sighed. Just one day i’d like to do something other than be cooped up inside or going through dusty old books. Or both. “I thought we were going to go see you’re new dwarf buddy. Wasn’t that the whole point of coming here today?” He came out from around a bookshelf, with his nose stuck to page of a scroll. “Well he doesn’t really get up until after nightfall does he. So it’s pointless to go during the day.” He didn’t even look up from his scroll. Between him and everyone else I was stuck somewhere never getting to go out and do anything. Galen, Rhys and Nymeria were all curled up on top of a abnormally tall stack of books asleep, but as soon as I stood up all three of them popped their heads up and then glided down to me without even being called. I think they were as bored as I was. “Well we are going with or without you. If I have to stay here any longer I will scream.” Nymeria glided in front of me as I left the room, weaving in, out and around...well everything. I pitied whoever had to put all of the books back. Oh wait, that was Dominic. Never mind, no pity. He could put all of his books away by himself and I hoped he didn’t have a blast doing. The hall stretched out before me, long and wide and very empty. Not even a breath of air was moving through the castle this evening. Galen chittered in my ear, rubbing his head against my cheek as my footsteps echoed off the walls. I’d spent my childhood in these halls, then we’d leapt forward in time nearly fifty years, and here we were again. A #lifetime gone just like that yet nothing had really changed. The only real way you could fathom it all was to step out of the box and try to visualize it all as an abstract concept. And after that you could classify it all as bullshit and just continue on a day to day basis. Like today. I was going up in those mountains and I was going to enjoy every second of not being cooped up somewhere. Alandra was a fighter. Everyone encouraged it, and she was good at it. Dominic was a scholar, and now he wanted to be a crafter as well. I knew he’d be good at it. He was good at anything he did, surfing excluded. Alex was a warrior, like Father, one day he would be a guardian like him. Abel was another one of those abstract concepts that twisted your mind in different ways. I’d decided that he was going to earn the title of ‘brother.’ But that being said he was a guardian too, and had been to other worlds in another universe even farther away and different than what we had here. Olanthi, Evanidus, Earth; we were living in one little niche of an entire galaxy. And then there was me. Little Tempest. The youngest of the Kane clan. Not allowed to fight. Don’t go near the action. Stay inside where it’s safe. I could step into flames and come away unscathed. I’d hatched the only three Angelwing dragons in existence but when anyone looked at me, that was all they saw. I needed to find a place in the world. I needed to and I would do it alone with my dragons. Rhys nipped my finger with his teeth, trying to get my attention. I looked up and realized that I’d just daydreamed myself all the way to the front doors of the castle. They were huge, looming up before me, stretching all the way up to the ceiling a hundred feet above my short stature. Nymeria quickly crawled up my leg and body and curled herself into the crook of my arm. Her body was warm against mine and she purred in contentment. They were my children, in every sense of the word. I didn’t have to pull the huge handles of the doors to get them to open, I simply had to wait until the doors themselves felt my presence. It felt the like room was taking a breath, and letting it out. You could feel yourself being watched but where the eyes were you’d never know. It was like the very castle itself had a mind of it’s own. One by one the great metal locks slid out of place and the great doors swung outwards with a groan to rival a giant’s snore. Cool night air blasted over us, whipping my hair around my head, brushing across my skin like a soft caress. It brought with it scents and sounds. The running water of the river. The blooming petals of the nightshade flowers and moon-jasmine. I stepped outside and took as much air into my lungs as I could. The doors closed behind me with a resonating thundering sound. As soon as those doors shut the sounds of the night came alive. Out in the fields I knew that the Brownie's were hard at work harvesting fruits and vegetables. The centaur's were deep in the forest, bedding down for the night. All of the little fey creatures were coming awake in the forest, illuminating it with their magic. Little lightning bugs were beginning to flicker in the air like stars. And the dragons. I could feel them all the time. I could feel them now, soaring through the air, diving at the bottom of the lake, curling around a nest of eggs. I felt them like another presence in my head, although it wasn't so much a sense as just a pure 'knowing.' Sometimes i wondered if it was really me feeling them, or if I was feeling them through the Angelwing dragons. The mere fact that there was so much more going on in the forest before me that I couldn't sense made it that much more fascinating and wondrous. A butterfly with wings the color of Gardenias fluttered in front of my. I held my hand up and it landed on my finger, flapping it's wings gently in the moonlight. Galen looked at it like it was dinner, but I knew it was more than just a butterfly. I could feel it's faint aura of power against my fingers as well as I felt it's little legs. It flapped it's wings and flew up high into the trees, and as it did i swore i heard a tiny giggle. I walked through the forest, and with each step the path ahead of me illuminated itself. Galen Rhys and Nymeria all leapt from my body and landed on the trunk of a tree, hanging on with their claws before jumping off and gliding to the next one. They made a game of it. Jumping from one to the other, chirping, purring and growling as they did. "The little dragons are having fun there eh?" I spun around but then the raspy boy's voice came from behind me again. "Careful that they don't get lost." I turned in a circle, slowly scanning the woods around me. "The little hatchlings like it here eh'. In the woods. In the night. In the magic. As is right." Nymeria came to my shoulder while Galen and Rhys flew to a branch above my head, peering down this way and that, looking for the disembodied voice as I was. It laughed. "What's the matter. Can't find me? Can't see me? Look harder little fledglings." The little voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "Tut tut tut. The fledglings can't find me? How so very sad." Nymeria let out a small growl by my ear. "Do you enjoy playing games?" I asked. "Come out and face us. Stop hiding in the shadows like a coward." "COWARD!!!" A boy-creature who looked no older than ten or so fell from nowhere and landed before us. "COWARD YOU SAY!! Who are you to call me a coward!?" His face, usually pale and perfect was scarlet as he crouched before us, his nose screwed up in anger. Pointed ears poked out of a mop of dark brown hair that looked to have never seen a comb. He wore nothing loin cloth fashioned from leaves, twigs and leathers around his middle. The toes of his leather hand-stitched shoes curved to points and had little blue-bells hanging from them. A quiver of arrows was strapped against his back, and he held a bow of magnificent fashioning in his hand. "I have protected these woods since long before you were even a thought. Through war's and peace, through summer and winter. I know these lands better than you know your own hands. I could pierce your heart with an arrow before you even you'd been killed. I. Am. No. Coward" I laughed. I couldn't help it. His face was so red, and his face so scrunched that his ears were quivering. "No." I agreed, "You're not a coward. But you're the most gullible creature in this forest right now. Falling for a trick like that. You're losing your touch Gylfie." His face switched from scrunched up anger to an ear to ear grin in the blink of an eye, and his bubbling laughter was like the tinkling of bells, or the trickle of water in the stream. "It's been to long," I said. It really had. Gylfie was one of my closest friends. He was odd, granted, very odd with a quick temper and an even quicker mind. I'd only seen him a handful of times, or rather, he'd allowed me to see him. He was the only wood nymph I'd ever met, but it made me wonder if all wood nymphs were like him. "Aye, it's been a long time! Long time since the Lady Dragonwaker has walked the woods at the hour of awakening. Long time since the fledglings have felt the magic of the forest. Long time since Gylfie has had someone interesting to talk to." Galen leapt from his branch above us and coasted down to Gylfie outstretched arm. "Aye look at you. No bigger than the last i saw you eh? Maybe fatter." I laughed again, and Rhys came to me while Nymeria leapt into the air again darting after a dragonfly that dared to pas over her head. "He is not fat! He's just...big boned." Gylfie just looked at me before answering in his raspy voice. "Big boned? Big boned? You blind yourself to the fact that your dragon is fat. Did you hear that Galen? The Lady Dragonwaker is blind blind blind as a bat." He crouched and through Galen into the air where the dragon extended his wings and soared over our heads, circling with Nymeria. "It's a good thing you've come! I have something to show you. Something no one from your world has ever seen. Have not seen and cannot understand. But first...a game of riddles." "Riddles?" I stepped up close to him and crouched down, sitting on the ground so I was eye level with him. "Why do you always want to play riddles with me? You always lose." "LOSE! The Gylfie never loses! But I will let you think you won if it means we play again." He grinned, such a boyish grin, but behind it was nothing but cunning. Before he could begin a tiny light appeared by his ear, bouncing around so fast I could barely keep up with it. It bumbled in his ear, and I could hear faint squealing. Whatever the little fairy was saying I couldn't hear or understand, but Gylfie could. He looked thoughtful before shooing the little light away. "Away with you now Annika. Go dance with the others. Tonight there is business." He turned to me but little Annika didn't leave, instead she tucked herself into his hair. I pulled at the grass in front of me, watching the little fairy in his hair. I could feel other's in the forest. Fairies, pixies, nymphs, sylphs, animals, dryads, brownies, all manner of fey and #life. They all had a purpose. Their families understood them, they all had a job that they were good at. "You are sad Lady Dragonwaker. Tell me why." I looked at him, letting my face go blank. "What? I'm not sad." He scoffed and I sighed. "Hod did you know?" "How does a migrating swallow know the way south in winter? Or a falling salmon find the very source of his birth from the cold black depths of the mysterious sea? I know everything, Tempest." "And how can you know everything. Nobody can know everything." He reached up and touched the tip of my nose, then touched his own. "I do" he whispered. "Now! Answer me this, and I will take you to see something that will lift your spirits higher than birds of the sky!" I sat back, getting comfortable as Rhys curled himself on my lap, and Galen and Nymeria each took a spot on one of my shoulders. "Ok," I said. "We're ready." He leapt up, and little Annika bounced along with him as a tiny fluttering light. He spun in a circle, and everywhere he turned lights exploded in the forest, flowers bloomed, insects took flight and little animals made themselves known. It was like he was calling an audience while making the forest around us come to #life. "What is a bell that does not ring, yet its knell makes the angels sing?" What is a bell that does not ring, yet its knell makes the angels sing. I turned the words over and over in my head, trying to puzzle it out. A bell? This was a game to lose. I almost preferred trying to race Gylfie through the forest. Keyword being "trying" in that particular sentence. Galen and Rhys both looked up at me, and I could see their puzzlement as well as feel it in my mind alongside my own. Gylfie just looked at me, expectant. It was like he was looking right through me, into the deepest part of my soul that even I couldn't fathom. When I looked at him you saw a boy, but when I looked into those eyes, I saw age, I saw something so old I couldn't' even begin to fathom what those eyes had seen, what lands those feet had run upon, how many arrows those hands had loosed from his bow. Sometimes I thought he was older than my father, but it was very unlikely. Nymeria brushed her head against my cheek, and an image suddenly flashed across my eyes. "Bluebells?" Gylfie smiled.

Tempest's Journey-pt 1 Light streamed through the sheer material of the curtains, illuminating the many books and parchments I had scattered across every flat surface. Rhys, Galen and Nymeria were perched on the edge of the desk, peering down over the side at Solomon. The blue dragon, now the size of a dog, was rolling around on the floor with his tongue hanging like...well, like a dog. 
Nymeria had a special ‘thing’ for causing poor old Solomon all kinds of grief. It was like a cat and mouse game between the two of them. Solomon was the mouse, and Nymeria was the cat, and Galen and Rhys were terrible little enablers. Earlier this morning they’d cornered Solomon in the bathroom and were terrorizing him with little plumes of fire, ice and sparks. Needless to say the bathroom was now a wreck and it was going to take some maneuvering to fix it before Mother found it and kicked up a fuss. 
“Solomon,” I said it sharply, stalking across the floor to where he was laying flat on his back still, drooling all over the floor. Nymeria was getting ready to pounce him from her perch on the desk, and he had no idea. “Get up you big fat lump of scales.” I knelt down and tried to roll him over. He just flopped like a sack of potatoes. 
“What on earth are you doing?” I turned as Dominic came striding in, another pile of books piled up in his hands. Of course he had books. He always had books. The only difference this time was he looked liked he’d dug through ten miles of dirt to get them. 
I shoved Solomon one more time and when he didn’t move I threw my hands up in exasperation. God forbid I try to save his sorry ass. I stood up and turned to Dominic, and as soon as I did Solomon squealed in fright as Nymeria pounced him. The blue waste of scales charged out of the room with a little red blur hot on his tail. 
Dominic dumped the books on the table with all my other parchments. “I thought you would have learned by now that trying to get between those two is like trying to get between Alandra and Abraxas when they’re making out in the closet.” He sighed and dumped himself in my chair, propping his very muddy feet on my desk. 
Why men felt the need to put their filthy feet on clean desks and tables was beyond anything I could comprehend. But it was his last statement that really got me. 
“Alandra was snogging Abraxas in the closet? And he’s still alive?”
Dominic just grinned and bit into a green apple he’d pulled out of nowhere, raising his eyebrows the way he always did when he knew something that I didn’t. 
I shoved his feet off the desk and sat on the edge. Rhys and Galen both hopped up and took their spots on my shoulders, wrapping their tales around my neck and arm. 
“Why are you so dirty?”
“Because.”
“Because why?” I reached down and wiped my hand across his cheek, and my fingers came away smeared with mud. 
He took another bite of his apple before answering with a full mouth. “I’m taking up a new hobby.” 
Typical Dominic. “What kind of new hobby? Are you opening a mud pie bakery?”
He grinned. “Blacksmithing.” “Blacksmithing,” i echoed. “Is this going to be like your surfing crusade? As i recall you caught more sand and fish than actual waves. I didn’t think you liked fighting anyhow.” I was willing to lay wages on how long this newest hobby was going to last. 
Dominic reached forward and smacked my knee, and Galen jumped off my shoulder to land on Dom’s leg, eyeballing his apple. “It isn’t fighting dinkleberry. It’s metal-smithing. Just because i’m a walking casualty doesn’t mean I can’t create beautiful things.” Galen was creeping up Dom’s body, going for the apple, pinning it with his sharp little gaze. 
“And who’s going to teach you to be a blacksmith? Your books? I’m no metal-crafter but I think it’s a little more practical than that...although it does have a certain charm doesn’t it...my brother, librarian by day...blacksmith by night.”
He kicked the desk again. “How do you manage to make everything sound like an insult embedded within a compliment?”
“Pure talent.” I hopped off the desk and grabbed Dom’s apple and Galen at the same time. Galen crawled back up to my shoulder and I held the apple up to him to bite one as I walked across the room. “Hey!”Dom got up and came after me as I turned the corner. I could hear Solomon and Nymeria going at it somewhere. Solomon’s squeals were bouncing off the walls and there were scorch marks all along the walls. “So how are you going to learn to be a blacksmith?”
“Do you remember that dwarf mom was telling us about. The one she took Alandra to see in the mountains in Olanthi. Made those swords with her arkenstone for Dad Dante and Arden?”
I thought about it for a moment. It was one of those memories that came before Dom died and the Angelwings hatched. “Kind of...I don’t thing dad’s ever really used that sword though. There was a dwarf?”
“Nah I don’t think he has either.” Dom came up beside me and held his hand out for Rhys. He crawled into Dom’s hands, his white scales bright against my brother’s dirty skin. Dom was the only person apart from momma who the Angelwings actually liked. “And yes there was a dwarf. Lanri. I met him by accident in the hills. He’s offered to teach me. And you know that dwarves are the best craftsman to ever live.” 
“Lanri...” i said. “He sounds familiar...is he bald or something? I’ve heard Alandra yapping about him but that was a while back.” 
“He’s got a mohawk now, but he’s still the best blacksmith in all of Olanthi.”
We turned the corner to find Solomon hanging off the wall by his claws, trying to desperately get away from Nymeria who was prowling around on the floor. She was letting out little spurts of fire that were making Solomon whine. 
“Nymeria!!” She turned and looked at me, cocking her head to the side and letting out the tiniest whine before she came to me, half walking and half gliding as she flapped her wings. 
Solomon fell off the wall with a crash and bolted from into another room, his tail between his legs as Dominic came to stand in front of me, a muddy grin on his face. “So,” he said. “Do you want to meet Lanri?”

Legitimate Question If an infected flesh eating dumbass zombie happened to fall off a pier and a nice big very hungry shark just happened to swim on by and eat said zombie, would the shark turn into a shark zombie and go on a rampage through the ocean ???

Massacre at 'The Dark Knight Rises' - Aurora, CO Last night at a theater in Aurora Colorado a gunman entered through a side exit at around 12:30am armed with a knife, rifle, handgun, and tear gas. Witnesses stated that when they saw the man wearing all black enter the theatre, they believed him to be part of special effects set up by the theater for the midnight showing of 'The Dark Knight Rises'. The movie had a high point, with Anne Hathaway in a shoot out when the gunman entered the auditorium. Again, people believed him to be special effects, and thought it a clever stunt as the man launched a gas canister out into the audience, filling the room with fumes. He then began to shoot. He started firing at the back of the auditorium, and went on to fire at random individuals who attempted to flee. Many tried to escape, many hunkered down and attempted to escape, while others lay down on the ground and tried to play dead to escape notice of the gunmen. There were at least twelve deaths, and fifty injured. Among them was a three-month-old baby and a six year old child. They along with countless others were treated for their wounds and for exposure to the noxious fumes of the gas. Witnesses and victims were hysterical. Many spoke of how there was simply blood, everywhere they looked, people lying on the ground and outside the exits. The gunmen was arrested outside the theatre by a car. He was found wearing a bullet proof vest, a gas mask, and was in possession of a knife, rifle, and handgun. Another gun was found back in the theatre. Police report that the gunmen put up no fight during the arrest, and did not resist at all. President Obama was informed of the shooting in the early hours of the morning. In his statement in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was set to campaign today, he had this to day along with his condolences. "As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family. All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers, as they confront the loss of family, friends, and neighbors and we must stand together with them in the challenged hours and days to come."

Excerpt 3 (Ava's Story) (Ava's POV) I turned in the mirror, holding my shirt up so I could see my stomach from the side. I turned from front to side, trying to see a difference. I stood up a little straighter, and hunched over a little. “What on earth are you doing.” Balthazar appeared in the doorway of the bathroom. “I’m searching…” I said, and turned again, standing up straighter. Balthazar came up behind me, his hands sliding around my stomach. “You’re not going to see a bump for a couple months at least.” “Well why not. There’s two in there you said, I want to see them.” Balthazar tugged my shirt back down around my waist and kissed my head. “Not for a couple months more at least. Be patient.” “I hate being patient.” He grinned, and kissed my head again, “I know.” Steam was rising from the tub, bubbles popping over the top of the water. “Did you draw a bath for us?” he asked. At that exact moment Alandra came screeching in. She slid across the floor, then turned and bolted out of the room again, then she came back, sliding across the floor only this time she slid into the side of the tub and toppled head over heels into the water, fully clothed. She came up, spitting water out of her mouth and a mound of bubbles on her head. She screamed a giggle, and Shazza came sliding in next, having no traction over the tile floor, but she managed to leap up, and land in the tub along with Alandra. Water spilled over the rim and splashed across the floor in a wave. “Well..” I said, “It was for us.” Shazza barked, high pitched and whiney and splashed around with Alandra who was still fully clothed. “At least we wont have to wash her clothes,” Balthazar said. “And to think we have two more on the way…I think you’re going to have to install the Isle with a Diaper Depot.” “And I think you’re going to love every stinky minute of it.” “And I think since I’m breastfeeding you get Diaper Duty.” I lifted my shirt up again. Flat. Balthazar grabbed it and slid it back down. “A couple months, not minutes.” Storm and Lightning came in next and both of them jumped into the tub with Alandra and Shazza. Snow stayed in the door. My good girl. But Solomon came toddling through next on all fours, half hopping half running, his little wings flapping. He was getting stronger, but he was still a runt compared to the others. He ran into the side of the tub and started trying to jump up into the tub, flapping his wings and scratching at the marble. But he was just to small. Snow just watched the five ring circus from the door way and Balthazar went to Solomon and scooped the little guy up in his hands and helped him onto his shoulder where he curled under his hair, his tail wrapping around the back of his neck. “Alandra.” He said. She looked up at him, bubbles stuck to her nose and head, “Take of your clothes before you get in the tub.” She just grinned, and splashed him, and that got the wolves started again, and more water went flying. You’d think it was raining. Balthazar bent down and tried to peel Alandra’s shirt off but she battered him off. “NO CLOTHES. LEAVE THEM ALONE.” She dived under the water, and Balthazar held his hands up in surrender while trying to stay dry. It didn’t work. He turned to me. “Are you going to help?” he asked. “Nope.” (Balthazar's POV) *I sighed. Of course she wouldn’t. She got too much of a kick out of watching me argue with a two year old. I stalked across the floor, trying not to slip as I scooped her up in my arms and threw her over my shoulder. I carried her out of the bathroom and closed the door behind us, leaving Ala and the mutts to their demolition water games. I threw her onto the bed where she bounced and then snuggled back into the pillows. She picked her shirt up again and looked down at her stomach as I pulled Solomon off my shoulder and held him in my hands. He curled his tail around my palm and wrist, and rubbed his tiny head against my fingers. He was still so small. Surinya’s hatchings were almost more than twice his size now. He rubbed his scaled head against my thumb and cooed, a small plume of smoke rising from his nostrils. I could feel his heart beating, it was stronger than it had been, but it was still weak, and had a skip to it. “How is he?” Ava asked from the bed. She was curled up with a pillow tucked in her arms and under her chin. “He’s still weak. He’s to small.” I shook my head, and breathed energy into him. My palms glowed with it, and he turned his head around and around, his eyes closed, like he was sunbathing in the light. It warmed him and he opened his mouth and crowed and basked in that light, soaked it up. But his heart still had that skip; I could feel it. I looked to Ava as she curled up with more pillows under her and Snow lept up onto the bed beside her. At least she was white like the sheets. I didn’t understand how she could let animals up on the bed, but there you go, and there they were, in a big puppy pile. There was a thump from the bathroom, followed by a squeal, barks, whines, and splashes. Solomon wiggled free of my hands and he glided to the floor with his wings outstretched. He may not be able to fly, but he was getting better at falling gracefully from places like, the top of the shelves, the cupboards, my shoulder. He skittered on the floor and went about his usual exploration. He would get into something before the day was over, and probably shit in someone’s shoe. It had better not be mine. I went to the bed and didn’t bother trying to fight snow for space, I just crawled up on the other side of Ava and tunneled my fingers through her hair. “Do you want to go and fix something for Solomon? He likes your cooking better than mine.” She cringed her nose, and turned to look up at me. “It’s not cooking, it’s mashed up meat and milk. Its cat barf.” “Well would you like to go and fix up your gourmet cat barf then?” She turned over and lay on her back so she could look up at me, while still clutching the pillow to her chest and stomach. She was wearing my shirt, and a pair of baggy jeans that were so big they barely hung to her hips. She had them tied to the side so they wouldn’t fall. They were probably Alex’s. “No.” she said. “Well do you want to go downstairs and read old books with me?” “No.” “Do you want to go clean the mess your mutts made? I think they ate the rest of your Lord of the Ring books.” “No.” “Do you want to go downstairs?” “No.” “Do you want to leave this room?” “Can we sneak off the balcony?” she asked. She actually looked hopeful. I sighed. Everyone was in some kid of mood today. Alex was off sulking somewhere, I wasn’t exactly sure why, yet. The dogs were eating everything. Alandra had been in the same clothes for three days and refused to take them off…even for the bath, and I could see Solomon chewing on the leg of the dresser from the corner of my eye. And Keary…I hadn’t seen him since he and Ava had their little ‘sibling altercation’ the night before. “Why are you avoiding your brother?” “Because.” Perfect, I thought. “Because why?” “Because.” “Can you give answers that consist of more than one word?” If this didn’t’ end, I would be the one in a cranky mood. “I told him Gabriel would bring Elaine back when he thought she was ready.” “And he’s not happy about it I take it?” I asked. I already knew the answer. “He wants to take her back to the courts. I think he wants to try and put everything back the way it was over two centuries ago, before Gabriel or I came into the picture.” I sighed. “You don’t think he blames you for all of this do you?” “Whynot? I do.” I sighed. “Don’t start. Its not your fault, or Gabriel’s, or anyone’s except Luthor. And we’ll make him pay. I don’t know how, I don’t’ know when, but we will. I promise.” I had a thought. “Why haven’t you gone to see your mother?” (Ava's POV) I blinked up at him. Why hadn’t I gone to see her? Good question. I reached out and took his hand in mine, and started massaging the muscles of his palm, trying to ease some of the tension. The wolves barked, Alandra squealed, and I heard her turn the water on in the tub. “I have seen her.” “No.” he said, “You saw her when we came back from hell, while we were still blind. But you haven’t gone back since we returned to the isle.” I looked up at him, and tried to figure out what he was getting at. His face told me nothing. It was just a careful blankness that hid everything but spoke volumes. But what those volumes were was still a mystery. But he stared down at me, and let the silence grow longer, and longer, and longer until I finally sighed, and tried not to scream in frustration. “I don’t even know her. I’ve never even seen her before. The only pictures I ever saw of her were paintings, and that was two centuries ago, remember, when we were at the courts, and we weren’t there long after I got pregnant with Alex.” I sighed and started massaging his hand again; I think to comfort me more than him. “And Keary is PMSing in a major way. Gabriel is unresponsive. And now we’ve got two more little people that are going to pop into the world any day now.” “That ‘any day’ is nine months away, I think we’ve got time to prepare.” Snow snuggled tighter against my other side, fighting for more attention. She put her head over my stomach and Balthazar had pity on her, and scratched her behind the ears until she grunted that doggy grunt of satisfaction. “Besides,” he said. “I think Gabriel is going to bring Elaine down here when it gets dark. He wants her to walk outside a bit, and breathe the fresh air. He thinks it’ll be more homely than the heavens, more natural to her. You and Keary both can go see her.” How did I get him to understand? It didn’t know what to do. I’d never met her, and she’d never met me. She might not even remember me after what she’d been through. And what if I just touched her, and she broke into a million pieces. Or worse. Although I didn’t know what could be worse. And I just knew that no matter how well behaved the two of them had been before now, Keary and Gabriel were going to be at each other’s throats. Keary wanted his mother back, wanted to whisk her away back to his hole in the ground home and put her on a shelf until she was better. Gabriel wanted his mate to be his true mate, and he wasn’t going to let her go either. It was a stalemate, and poor Elaine was stuck in the middle, and I knew they were going to turn to me to be a referee. And that was a job I was going to take. ‘Yes we’ll have to split the custody of my mother. Gabriel gets her every other weekend, and Keary can have her on Wednesday nights for poker and mother-son bonding.’ It was ridiculous. And now twins. (Balthazar's POV) Thoughts were flying across her face and her mind almost to fast for me to catch them. But I caught enough to know that she was conflicted between her father and brother, confused about her mother, and no doubt the hormones would be kicking in, it was the perfect opportunity for them to raise their ugly heads and make everything worse. I laid my hand over her stomach, feeling the #life of my two little ones. They were so small, tiny fluttering heartbeats, growing a little everyday. I smiled slightly, she wouldn’t have to worry about a baby bump for very long, she’d have one soon, and it would be huge. She was going to hate it. Shadows passed over the room from the windows as the sun sank into the horizon, and I felt Gabriel in my mind then. He didn’t speak to me, so much as simply show me that he had Elaine in his arms, and was stepping out onto the isle with her cradled against him. I slid my hand through Ava’s hair, getting her attention as her mind started to run off with her again, making things worse than they were. “Gabriel is just outside, with Elaine. You should come see her.” I pulled the pillow out of her arms and tossed it aside. I took her hands in mine and pulled her up out of the bed, turning her towards the balcony doors. “What about Alandra?” she asked, turning and trying to go to the bathroom. I grabbed her around the waist and tucked her under my arm, steering her to the doors. “Alandra is fine. Alex is just in the next room, she has four wolves to keep her safe, and we will be right outside. Nothing will happen. Stop running.” She tucked herself tighter against me, her arms curling around my waist as she buried her face against the crook of my arm. It wasn’t like her to be this insecure. I gently glided us down off the rail of the balcony to the soft grass below in the shade of the trees. Gabriel was just ahead of us, in the deep shadow of a large white tree. Its leaves were red, almost blood red. A Shire Tree. He set Elaine down, and she was tiny, Ava’s size, but thinner, gaunt and wasted away. She stood on her own two feet, engulfed in Gabriel’s cloak, his hands on her shoulders to steady her. Keary slid silently out of the tree’s beside us. He looked at me, and nodded. I nodded back, and turned to watch was Elaine looked around her. Her eyes held wonderment, but they would glaze over, like she wasn’t sure where she was, or like she simply wasn’t there, but then they would fill with #life again. She reached a hand out, and laid it gently against the white bark of the Shire Tree. Half the reason I’d built our home here was because of this tree. They held a magic of their own, an ancient magic, neither good or bad, but neutral. It gave beauty when needed, shelter when sought, even healing. Elaine touched it and a glint of light shone in her face, a spark of what she was. I could feel Gabriel’s joy, but also his agony. Agony that two centuries had passed where he thought her dead, when in truth she had been in so much pain. But I knew he would heal. They would both heal in time. But it would take just that, time. This family had a lot of mending to do. Keary stood silent and watched his mother with a sort of wonderment on his face. The wonder that small baby boys had for their mothers. Ava clung to my side and watched her as well. I could feel her happiness, but also confusion, and mostly nervousness. We had a lot of mending to do. (Adam's POV) - Ava's estranged son. I felt Gabriel as he passed from the realm of the heavens and onto the isle. I was already outside the home of my mother, and that bastard Balthazar. I’d heard tale of a woman who was supposedly my grandmother. My grandmother. How pathetic could that be? First Balthazar took me from my mother, never let me near my real father, and now I had a grandmother that I had never knew of, and an uncle as well. Bastards. All of them. I slid against the bark of the tree I was leaning on, melding into the shadows. Balthazar had filled me with his blood, his #life; I could hide from him, but not this close to him and his little family. The only reason I was able to stand here this close to them all was he simply wasn’t paying attention. They were all at the base of the white tree. My grandfather held the tiny woman against him, his hands on her, possessive. Balthazar and my mother came into view next, my mother tucked under his arm like a little child. Or maybe he just didn’t like to let his toys go to far. I didn’t know, I didn’t care. My ‘uncle’ slid out of the woods next like a shadow. They all stood around, and watched as the tiny woman Gabriel was hovering over reached out and touched the white tree. They all stared at her, fascinated, like a monkey riding a tricycle. Pathetic. Why should they all get to be a happy family? Why should Balthazar get to have all of them to himself, where he’d taken them all from me? He’d denied me everything. I slid the dagger out of my belt. The blade was dragon glass, hard as a rock; the hilt was a black bone of some kind. I’d found it here on the isle. I’d found it and it was mine. It had some kind of magic to it. I didn’t’ know what, but it felt good to hold it. I gripped the hilt of it and hefted it a little in my hand. Balthazar and Gabriel took everything from me. Why couldn’t I take it from them? I stepped out of the shadow of the tree’s and pulled my arm over my head. Everything moved in slow motion then, like I had all the time in the world. I brought my hand down, launching the blade at my ‘grandmother’ and it flew, straight and true, hurtling through the air right for the little bitches head. I saw Gabriel’s head whip up, and Balthazar’s head swing around to see me. But it was to late, the dagger was flying through the air. Faster than I could see, Gabriel tackled the woman, dragging her to the ground under him, a cry tearing through his lips. Balthazar had let go of my mother and started for me, but as let go of her and made those first steps, and Gabriel shoved the other woman to the ground, the blade whistled over his head, and buried itself to the hilt in Mother’s stomach before either of them could even react. Blood blossomed across her body and her eyes rolled back in her head, he body going limp and falling to the ground. Balthazar turned and caught her just before she hit the ground. I turned my gaze to find my ‘Uncle’ staring at me. He ignored them all and launched himself through the air towards me. I turned and ran.