Emerson’s Story

Chapter 15

Fifteen

“Whoa, hey, calm down.” Dash blinks, confused. “I’m on your side. How have you not figured that out yet?”

“It’s okay, Emerson,” Violet says, running up to me. “He’s telling the truth. He’s on our side.”

“How can he possibly be on our side?” Anger rushes hotly through my veins, escaping in violent sparks that shoot away from me and aim straight for Dash’s face.

“Ow!” He ducks and bats the magic away with both hands. “What the heck, Em?”

“You tried to imprison me! And then you pushed me off the edge of a cliff!”

“Jeez, Em, I’m the only reason you got away from the Guild. You never would have escaped without my help.” He straightens as my magic stops attacking him. “You don’t think guardians are normally that clumsy, do you? And the cliff …” He shrugs, looking a little sheepish. “Well, we ran out of time, so I had to improvise. But I knew Ryn and Vi were out there. I knew someone would catch you.”

“You knew someone would catch me?” I repeat in disbelief. “I almost died!”

“But you didn’t. You’re fine. And now you’re safe, which was the plan from the very beginning.”

“What plan?”

“You know, to get you here to the Griffin rebels.”

“Wait.” I blink and hold my hands up. “You knew all along that I had a Griffin Ability, and you didn’t say anything to me?”

Dash’s eyes flick toward Violet before returning to me. “Well, we weren’t certain. That’s why I kept trying to get you to tell me exactly what happened that night at the party, but you weren’t interested in talking about it.”

“Are you kidding? If it was so important—if having a Griffin Ability is so dangerous—you could have forced the information out of me. Told me, ‘Em, this isn’t normal magic. You could be in danger because of it. You have to tell me what happened, for your own safety.’” I throw my hands up in complete exasperation. “Did you consider that option, Dash?”

He folds his arms over his chest, his expression growing stormier by the second. “Perhaps you don’t clearly remember the occasion on which you completely freaked out and ran away from Chevalier House, but you weren’t exactly in the mood to be forced into anything. And forgive me, but I kinda thought you had enough to deal with at that moment, having just found out about, you know, everything else. I thought I was being kind not dumping another horrible revelation on your shoulders. And I figured Azzy would get the truth out of you soon enough—which she had already done, actually. I didn’t know it, but she’d already contacted Ryn by the time I got you back to Chevalier House. We just didn’t manage to get you safely away before you revealed to everyone what you can do.”

“Hang on. Azzy’s in on this whole thing? That’s what the two of you were whispering about last night?”

“You heard that?”

“Yes, Prof Azzy’s on our side too,” Violet says.

“Then why the hell did Paul call the Guild to come get me?”

“Because Azzy is the only one who’s in on this,” she explains. “Paul isn’t. He’s firmly on the Guild’s side, just like everyone else working at Chevalier House, so his automatic response was to contact them.”

“Okay fine. Fine!” I face Dash again. “But you still didn’t explain a damn thing to me after I accidentally revealed my ability. If your Griffin friends were planning to come and rescue me, why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I tried, Em, but we weren’t alone for long enough after that. I couldn’t say anything with other guardians around. If the Guild gets even the tiniest hint that I’m not entirely on their side, things would turn out very badly.”

“Looking after your own skin, I see,” I mutter.

“Emerson—”

“Not just my skin,” Dash snaps, interrupting Violet before she can get any further. “I’m looking out for everyone else who lives here. Protective magic might keep me from being able to tell the Guild about this place if I were ever questioned, but I know far more than that. I know what Azzy’s doing and about all the people who come in and out of here. Can you imagine what would happen if the Guild got that information out of me?”

“Then why bother working at the Guild if it’s such a gigantic risk?”

“Hello! Because Vi and Ryn and everyone else here need people on the inside. They wouldn’t know what’s going on otherwise. They wouldn’t have known about you, or about what the Guild was planning to do with you.”

“It’s true,” Violet says. “The information Dash gives us about the Guild is extremely valuable. And aside from that, he wants to be a guardian. He wants to help people. He shouldn’t have to walk away from that just because he’s connected to us.”

I cross my arms tightly over my chest, wanting to say that other people have to give up their dreams all the time, so what makes Dash so special that he gets to keep his? But my childish, petty thoughts aren’t helpful, so I manage to remain quiet.

Violet’s gaze shifts between the two of us. “Should we … perhaps … sit down?” she suggests after several more moments of silence have passed.

With a terse nod, I follow her up the pavilion steps. I wait for Dash to sit so I can choose a spot far away from him, but he nods at me to sit first. i***t. Is he pretending to have good manners or something? I take a seat on a blue-and-white-striped couch and hug one of the fluffy white cushions against my stomach. Dash has the decency not to sit right next to me. “So, are we okay now?” he asks. “You and me?”

I shrug. “As okay as we ever were, I guess.”

“Cool. So you still don’t like me, but at least you don’t believe I wanted to kill you.”

I nod. “Pretty much.”

“Great,” Violet says, waving to Ryn as he walks toward the pavilion with a tray of glasses floating in the air beside him. “As long as the two of you don’t want to kill each other, everything should be fine.”

“Dash,” Ryn says as reaches us. “Thanks for helping out with the rescue.” He shakes Dash’s hand, as if pushing me off a cliff was some great accomplishment. “I know Emerson wasn’t too pleased about the way it happened, but you had to keep your cover somehow.”

“Thanks. It’s good to know that some people appreciate my sacrifice.” He gives me a pointed look.

“Yeah, whatever. Such a sacrifice, I’m sure. And you guys can stop calling me Emerson,” I add. “Em is fine.”

“Or Emmy,” Dash says.

I clench my teeth together. “I will hurt you.”

“I will hurt you,” he mimics in a high-pitched voice.

Violet sighs and lowers herself onto one of the couches. “Were we ever this immature?”

“Of course not,” Ryn says, taking a seat opposite her. “Well, you might have been, but I’m sure I wasn’t.”

She laughs. “That is definitely not true.”

“Dash, I heard you had a small problem getting here,” Ryn says, neatly changing the subject. “Calla said she got a message from you asking her to go meet you somewhere and bring you back here.”

“Uh, yeah.” Dash turns his gaze to me. “So, I have a small problem.”

“And why is that my problem?”

“Because it’s your fault. I can’t use the faerie paths anymore. It’s impossible for me to travel anywhere if I’m alone.”

“Aaaaand I still don’t see how that’s my problem.”

“Em, come on. It’s your Griffin Ability that did this to me. You need to fix it.”

“I don’t know how. And even if I did, wouldn’t that look suspicious to the Guild? I’m supposed to be dead, right, so how could I fix your faerie paths problem?”

“I don’t know. I guess I could say the effects of your magic wore off.”

“And when Jewel still can’t use the faerie paths? That’s going to look seriously suspicious, Dash.”

“She has a point,” Ryn says.

“Just try it, Em. Try right now. Say, ‘You can open doorways to the faerie paths.’ And if it works, then we can get you to sneak up on Jewel while she’s sleeping and do the same to her.”

“That’s really creepy, Dash.”

“Just try!”

I lean back, cross my arms, and say, “You can open doorways to the faerie paths.”

He sighs. “Perhaps you could put a little effort into it?”

“Who says it works that way?”

“I don’t know, but it certainly didn’t work the way you just said it. Your voice didn’t go all … weird.”

I uncross my arms and fiddle absently with the sleeve of my sweater. “Weird how? What does my voice sound like when it happens?”

“Sort of … deeper. A little distorted. And kind of … not like an echo, but it was as if I could hear it in the air all around me.”

I nod slowly. “It kinda sounded like that to me too.”

“Do you want to try again?” Violet asks. “Focusing this time, instead of just saying the words.”

Since it isn’t Dash asking, I agree to try again. I try several more times, even closing my eyes and focusing intently on pulling out that power from deep inside me as I tell Dash he’s allowed to open doorways to faerie paths. But just like at the edge of the cliff, nothing happens. My voice remains normal.

Eventually I slump back against the couch and hug the fluffy cushion closer to my chest. “See? Can’t do it.”

“Well, no need to stress about it,” Violet says. “We can definitely help you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And in the meantime, Dash will just have to figure out another way to get around.”

“Ugh, seriously? I’m going to have to be taken everywhere like a child,” Dash complains.

“Good thing you work in teams at the Guild,” Ryn says. “One of your teammates should be happy to help you and Jewel, right?”

“It’s still extremely limiting.”

“Poor you,” I say without a shred of sympathy.

His eyes narrow as he looks at me. “You’re enjoying this.”

I shrug. “You pushed me off a cliff.”

“Is that going to be your comeback for everything?”

“Probably. I feel like it’s never gonna get old.”

“So,” Violet says loudly. “Would anyone like a drink?” She gestures to the tray of glasses Ryn brought with him, which is sitting on a small round table beside his chair.

“Okay,” I say, pointing to one containing alternating layers of green and pink. “As long as it has no alcohol manufactured by humans.”

“No alcohol at all,” Ryn assures me as he hands over the glass. “Dash? Would you like something?”

“Nah, I’m actually gonna go say hi to Gaius if he’s awake. Haven’t seen him in a while. And I’m sure your conversation with Emmy—” he winks at me as he stands “—will be more pleasant if I’m not around.”

“Finally,” I mutter as Dash walks away. “He doesn’t hang out here often, does he?”

Violet shakes her head and pushes her hair back away from her face. “Not too often.”

“Thank goodness for—Oh. Those marks on your wrist.” My eyes follow her arm as she lowers it. “They’re the same as the ones Dash has. Isn’t that supposed to mean you’re a guardian?”

“Yes.”

“But … you have a Griffin Ability, so … oh, was this before they came up with a way to test for Griffin Abilities? Sorry, the age thing is confusing. You look so young but you could be a hundred years old for all I know.”

“Not quite,” she says with a laugh.

“Not even close, actually,” Ryn adds.

“But yes, I was a guardian. Ryn, Calla and I were all guardians before we were outlaws. Well, Calla never actually had the chance to graduate, but Ryn and I did. We worked for the Guild for a number of years without anyone knowing we were Griffin Gifted. Then the Guild developed a way to test for Griffin Abilities, and we were revealed as ‘traitors’ along with all the other Griffin Gifted. We ran before the Guild could deactivate our marks, though, so we still have access to our guardian weapons. You may have seen them? Gold and sparkly. They appear when we need them and disappear when we let go.”

I nod, picturing the fight at the edge of the cliff. “Are those guardian-specific?”

“Yes. Only guardians have access to weapons like that.”

“So now you basically do what you did before, but without the Guild’s approval? So … you’re like vigilantes?”

Her smile is wry. “Pretty much. Not something we ever planned to be, but the Guild kinda forced us into it. Especially since their system doesn’t function as well as it’s supposed to.”

“What do you mean?”

“They work with Seers. Fae who have an ability to glimpse the future. They See things that will go wrong, and the Guild sends guardians to prevent those things from happening. The problem is, there are too many of those visions. There are never enough guardians to deal with them all, so the visions that are deemed less important are thrown out. We have a Guild contact, however, who gathers those up and gets them to us as quickly as possible. We deal with anything that hasn’t already happened.”

“Cool.” I lapse into silence, thinking through everything she’s explained. Then I remember that I’m holding a drink, so I take a sip. It tastes like a mixture of pine needles and something fruity, which isn’t a bad combination. I wait for Ryn or Violet to ask me a question, but it seems they might be waiting for me to steer the conversation. Either that or they’re having their own silent conversation with their eyes.

“Anyway,” I say eventually, “what do you guys want to chat about? My Griffin Ability? The fact that I can’t perform even the most basic magic? The fact that my mom isn’t my mom?” Violet raises both eyebrows, and I inwardly curse myself for letting that last one slip out. “Griffin Ability,” I say hurriedly. “Let’s go with that one.”

“Uh, yes,” she says. “I’m very interested to hear more about your Griffin Ability. I’ve never come across anyone who can speak things into being. That’s incredible.”

“You mean dangerous, right? That’s what everyone else seems to think.”

“Dangerous, yes, if you can’t control it. But we’re all dangerous if we can’t control our magic. And you’ve only just discovered yours, so of course you don’t know what to do with it yet. But we’ll do whatever we can to help you, I promise.”

I chew on my lip and slowly shake my head. “Perhaps I should stop speaking altogether, because I never know when something I say is going to come out as a magical command. Also …” I place my glass on the floor before pressing my hands together. “There’s a possibility Jack is never going to be in trouble again.”

Ryn tilts his head. “What did you say to him?”

“I think my exact words were, ‘You should stay out of trouble.’ And my Griffin Ability randomly switched on at that moment. So … I’m not really sure what kind of effect that’s going to have on him.”

Violet bursts out laughing. “Well, I’m looking forward to seeing the results of that one.”

“Yeah, but what if I’d said something different? Something bad?”

Ryn pushes a hand through his hair. “Yes, there are definitely risks as long as you don’t know when the ability will kick in. But completely muting yourself isn’t practical. Perhaps just think about everything you want to say before you say it, and make sure it isn’t a command or instruction.”

My shoulders slump. “That sounds even less practical. I’m sure it would be easier to tape my mouth closed than to tell myself I have to think about every word before it leaves my mouth.”

“It won’t be a problem for long,” Violet says. “We can start working on it tomorrow. Well, the next day, I suppose. You’ll need to go to the lab tomorrow so Ana can take a sample of your magic. The elixir to stimulate your Griffin Ability should then be ready the day afterwards.”

“Lab?” Cold, hard fear takes shape in the pit of my stomach. “I—that’s—I’m not very—”

“Of course, I’m sorry. Dash mentioned you have a fear of all things medical. But don’t worry. There are no needles or anything. It’s just a simple spell, and you won’t feel a thing.”

I pluck at the hairs of the fluffy cushion, unable to get rid of my frown. I hate that Dash has been talking about me to these people. What else has he told them?

“Seriously, Em, it isn’t a big deal,” Ryn says. “We need to take a sample of your magic so we can create an elixir that will stimulate your Griffin Ability. Once you get used to what it feels like having that particular part of your magic switched on, you can hopefully figure out how to do it without the aid of the elixir. It needs to be specific to your magic, though, which is why we need the sample.”

I lick my lips, reach forward for the drink at my feet, and take a long gulp. “Okay,” I say after I’ve set it down again. “I guess that makes sense.” That doesn’t mean Ryn and Violet aren’t lying to me, though. They might intend to use my magic for something else.

Violet leans forward, her amber now clasped between her hands. “Do you want to tell us anything about your mom?”

Suddenly, this feels like an interrogation. “Um …”

“What’s her name? What hospital is she at?”

I scratch at a dirty mark on my jeans. “Daniela Clarke. And she’s at Tranquil Hills Psychiatric Hospital. It’s … well, the setting is tranquil. The inside isn’t.”

Vi nods and scribbles something onto her amber with a stylus.

“What are you writing down? Are you telling someone? Dash said those amber things are like cell phones, so are you messaging someone?”

“Em, calm down,” Ryn says. “She’s taking notes, that’s all.”

Violet sits back. “I know Dash told you that it isn’t possible for your mom to be your biological mother. That must have been a huge shock for you to find out.”

I nod but say nothing.

“I’m really sorry, Em. It’s a lot to take in all at once, I know. Finding out that you’re not who you thought you were and that you might have a whole new family somewhere out there. Do you want us to try find out more about them?”

I shake my head. “My mom’s my only family. I don’t need to know about anyone else.”

“Okay. Just let us know if you change your mind.”

“Yeah.” I won’t be changing my mind.

“Em, you don’t have to freak out.” It’s Ryn who leans forward this time, watching me intently. “I’m serious. We only want to help you. If you really don’t want us to take a sample of your magic, we’re not going to force you. And if you don’t want to talk about your mother, that’s fine. We won’t mention her again. We want you to feel safe here, that’s all. We’re hiding from the Guild just like you are. We understand what it’s like to be hunted. We understand what it’s like to want nothing more than a safe place to call home.”

I realize I’ve been holding my breath while he’s been speaking, and I slowly let it out. I think I believe him. I think I do. The only problem is … “This isn’t ever going to be my home,” I say carefully, hoping they understand I don’t mean to offend them. “I have a life somewhere else. And a mother who needs me. I need to get back to that world when my magic is no longer a danger to everyone around me.”

Ryn nods. “Then that’s what we’ll help you do.”