A Nightingale's Tale

Chapter Seventeen

Killian and Lydia walked down the path to the field. She could see Killian spinning the ring with his thumb against his finger. The entire walk he kept asking her how she had done it. She told him, mostly, how she did it. She didn’t want him to know she took a heart-string from someone he could have cared for, so she left that out.

“Lyon’s wine?” he laughed. She was glad he wasn’t mad at her for intruding. “I think we have some in the kitchen. The hobgoblins love it.”

“Great,” she said, “I guess Sofia didn’t know that.”

“Sofia knew?”

“I needed her help finding things.”

He laughed with her as she explained what she had been doing for the past few hours.

“I bet I can beat you to the truck,” he said when they reached the field entrance.

“Oh, do you think so?” she smirked at him. If she fought fair he could have easily beaten her but she knew magic. They ran races as children and Lydia had perfected a spell to speed her up years ago.

“Yea,” he said and took off running. She stood and admired his form for a moment then licked her thumb, put it in the dirt, ran the wet dirt against the back of her ankles, said her spell, and took off. The wind against her face felt lovely and her hair blew behind her. She touched the truck a moment before he did.

“That’s cheating!” he yelled playfully, “How did you do that?”

“I’ll teach you,” she said.

“Come on,” he said getting in the driver's side of the truck. They laughed and told stories to each other as he drove. After a while, Lydia realized they were very far from camp and were in a well-populated area. She grew nervous looking at all of the human homes.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To the city of New Orleans.”

“A city? Why?”

“We need to get some more food and I have a surprise for you.”

She didn’t know what to say. Her mind fluttered with the images she had made up in her head about what a city would be like. She watched out the window as the forest began to thin out and houses began to spring up among the trees. As they got closer to civilization, houses and buildings took up more space than the trees. She felt uncomfortable among the frantic outer city streets. On the horizon, she saw the skyline of the city. She was in awe as they drove closer. She didn’t know buildings could reach so high. The tops of the buildings reached beyond her eyesight. The sheer enormity of it all was overwhelmingly pleasant. Even in her most ridiculous dreams she couldn’t have imagined anything so large and inviting in all her life. She felt as if she had been in love with this city even though she had never been there. It comforted her being surrounded by thousands of people and for once she could be anonymous. Killian parked the truck on the side of the road where a man was playing guitar. The first hints of twilight began to settle over the city. A few street lights had come on and the streets were cooling down.

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“I told you, it’s a surprise.”

He pointed up toward an enormous glass structure. The glass reflected the orange sky like a mosaic.

“What is that?’

“Surprise, remember?”

Her heart picked up its pace and she grew nervous. She had never seen a structure quite like the one she stood in front of. He took her by the hand and nodded toward the entrance. He pulled a cloth out of his pocket.

“I’m going to put this over your eyes, ok?”

“Why?”

“Lydia, trust me.”

She swallowed her nerves and pushed her hair back, so he could tie the cloth over her face. She opened her eyes against the cloth. She couldn’t see anything other than muted darkness. He took her by the hand and walked her forward. She could easily have turned her powers on, but she forced herself to trust him. With the loss of one of her senses, her others kicked into overdrive. She could smell the salty, brine of fish and tide. Her other hand found a rough, cold rock that pricked her fingers that was juxtaposed to the warmth his hand gave to her other. She could hear children laughing as they ran past her. All of her senses told her she was outside at the sea but she was sure they had just walked into a large building away from the shore.

“Are we outside?” she asked.

“No questions,” he laughed and squeezed her hand.

She felt joy bubble in her stomach that made her giggle aloud. She held onto his arm with her other hand and he led her on. The little light that had managed through her blindfold was gone. She felt her feet going down a decline. She shivered with cold. He took his hand from hers and placed both hands on each of her shoulders.

“Are you ready?” he whispered into her ear.

She laughed with happiness and nodded. She felt his hands in her hair and it sent a chill down her spine. The blindfold fell forward, and her eyes were assaulted with the brightest blue she had ever seen. Fish in every color and size floated inches in front of her face. A stingray floated above her head causing her to jump back.

“We’re underwater?” she said in astonishment.

“Technically, yes.”

Killian looked at the amazement spread across her face. He hadn’t felt such joy in a while. Lydia stepped forward and touched the thick glass. A shark swam by and looked in her direction. She had never seen anything as beautiful as she had in that moment. She marveled at the bright blue of the water, the green of the seaweed, and the yellows of the fish. She wanted nothing more than to swim through the water.

“Killian, this is…”

“This isn’t even the best part.”

“What?” she said astounded, “How could there be more?”

“Watch,” he said holding onto her.

She searched the underwater seascape for something else. She couldn’t imagine how anything could have been more astonishing than what she was already watching. Then, a splash at the surface caught her attention. A woman was in the water. Lydia was captivated. She couldn’t get any closer to the glass without pressing her entire body against it. She saw a swarm of red hair floating around the pale woman’s head when she noticed the large fish-tale where her legs should have been. Lydia gasped.

“They caught a mermaid?” she practically yelled.

Killian giggled into her ear, “She’s a human. The tale isn’t real. She the tube she holds? It’s air from the surface.”

Lydia’s bewilderment couldn’t have peaked more in that moment.

“It’s magic,” she said.

“I thought you would like this,” Killian said.

Excitement overcame her, and she jumped into his arms and kissed him. She immediately stepped back realizing what she had done. The look of surprise in his eyes was overcoming with pleasure. He took her face in his hand and leaned forward to kiss her again. They kissed in the glow of the sea as a mermaid swam above them. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders before she settled her face onto his chest. She couldn’t face him any longer because at that moment, Arabella came into her mind. She looked out, to what seemed an endless sea, and felt guilty for the happiness she felt. As if he knew what she was feeling he said, “We’ll bring her here too.”

Lydia knew that wasn’t true, but she enjoyed his sentiment either way. She was determined not to ruin the beautiful surprise he had given her.

“Is there more?” she asked with a smile.

“So much more.”

Killian and Lydia ran around the aquarium as if they were children. They reached their hands into a pool to pet horseshoe crabs. They climbed through the children’s play area and splashed each other with cold water. They sat beneath the largest window of the aquarium and shared ice cream, which she had never had. They watched the children play around them with the same astonishment in their eyes as Lydia’s.

“We have to go soon,” Killian said as he finished his bowl of chocolate ice-cream.

“Must we?” she asked.

“We have to get food,” he said, “I’ll bring you back, I promise.”

Lydia took one more look at the most enchanting place she had ever been just to help her remember it by. She took his hand and they headed for the front door.

Killian led her to a market that was beginning to shut down for the night. The sweet smell of loaves of bread and freshly cut flowers masked the smell of meats and stagnant street water. For the first time in her life, she couldn’t smell the brine of the ocean. They got bread, rice, and dozens upon dozens of eggs. Lydia shook her head when he grabbed potatoes. She was so very sick of potatoes but they needed them, even her tent was almost empty. Killian spoke with the merchant as Lydia wandered around the front of the market. A familiar face broke Lydia out of her dream-like euphoria. Anna was in a small box hanging above the window in the corner. But her face was wrong, so wrong, it was scratched and bruised. She was hardly recognizable. Her eyes were closed.

“It’s a TV. It’s how humans get information. They’re actually very interesting, this one time…”

“I know her,” Lydia interrupted him.

“Who?”

“Anna,” Lydia said.

“Who’s Anna?”

“She’s a girl from Covet. She went missing before I left.”

“How did a girl from Covet end up dead among humans?”

“I don’t know.”

Lydia walked closer to get a better look at the TV. White words scrolled along the bottom of Anna’s image. “…possible Satanic cult involvement says the New Orleans police department. There were unusual carvings all over the young girl’s body. She had obviously been tortured. If you have any information on this Jane Doe please contact them at…”

“Satanic?” Lydia asked.

“It’s a term humans use for demons.”

“A demon? Why would they think that?”

“I’m not sure. Demons are mostly extinct. It’s normally just humans pretending to use magic.”

“They know about demons and magic?’

“You would be surprised what humans know. They act out all kinds of things, some real some not.”

“I was so sure he had done it.”

“Who?”

“Her husband. He was an Elder Brother and one of the worst. I thought he killed her.”

Lydia had more questions than her brain could compartmentalize. How was Anna off the island? Did she get sent to reformation and die and they just left her here? Lydia shuttered at that thought and Arabella’s face flashed through her mind again. A few more days Ara, she thought. Why would the Guardians search for her so extensively if they knew what happened to Anna? What if Anna did get off the island and was captured by humans and they killed her? Are humans that evil?

“Looks like he didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?”

Lydia lost herself in thought and forgot what they were talking about.

“Her husband, I doubt he killed her and dumped her here. Aren’t they strict about how their deceased are treated?

“Yea, they aren’t allowed to decompose. They have them torn apart by birds in the atrium and then release them.”

She remembered the birds that flew into the sky above the island the day after her mother died.

“Lyon told me about that,” Killian said putting his arm around her.

“I hope he gets back soon,” Lydia said as she watched the image of Anna be replaced by a house fire.

During the ride back to camp, Lydia was lost in her mind. Even as they walked through the woods to camp, she wasn't completely there. She snagged her foot on a loose root as she tried to balance the bags of groceries in her arms. Killian held a small flashlight to light their path. Storm clouds rose overhead quickly, abnormally quickly. They hurried through the trees as to not get drenched. As they got closer to the camp, they heard a loud commotion ahead of them. A crowd had formed at the front of the camp near the port-door. She could see better with the many campfires spread throughout the camp.

“That person isn’t here,” Lyon said. Lydia’s heart jumped when she saw the snowy haired man again.

“Lyon?” Killian yelled out.

“Oh, great timing,” Lyon said sarcastically.

Lyon was standing at the front of the crowd facing a man in a billowing black coat. Lydia recognized the thick wool coat immediately.

“Onyx,” she said.

His eyes snapped to her, relieved. He held out a hand toward her. “Lydia, you have to come with me now,” he said.

Killian stepped in front of her, dropping the groceries. A potato rolled down to where Onyx stood. Onyx kept his gaze on Lydia intensely as if it were only him and her there.

“Stay behind me,” Killian said.

“What, no, I know him,” she said pushing his arm aside and walking toward Onyx.

Killian grabbed her arm, so she couldn’t get too far.

“Onyx, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I’ll explain later.”

The sky rumbled with a lazy groan.

“Get back,” Lyon said from the other side of Onyx.

“Lydia,” Killian pleaded.

The static between them could have lit the forest a flame. There was an other-worldly buzz echoing throughout the trees. This must have been the first time a human had come this close to them and it terrified them. Lydia thought back onto the charms in the trees that deterred humans from coming to this area. How had he passed them?

“How did you know where I was?” she asked.

“I said I’ll explain later,” he argued in his familiar combative tone.

He kept an arm extended in her direction, never tiring. There was no way he could have just stumbled upon her. He didn’t even know anything about this part of her. He looked paler than the other humans had. He didn’t sway like they did when they stood still. She backed up against Killian and he stepped in front of her. Onyx dropped his hand. Lightning shattered the sky but there was still no rain. Onyx pulled his gaze away from Lydia only to look at Killian then Lyon. The sky crackled again and a tree in the distant sparked. White light shot through the clearing. Onyx was gone.

The weight of the groceries in her arms finally settled in and she sat them on the ground. Sofia ran out and picked them up. Killian hurried Lydia inside the camp while frantically scanning the forest for any sign of Onyx. Killian shook his left hand in pain. His praecant was trying to emerge. A black snake had wrapped around his hand as it emerged from his ring and a sword fell against his palm.

“What is that and what was a demon doing here?” Lyon yelled to Killian.

“It’s a praecant.” He stared at it in amazement.

“You just have a praecant now?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, and what about the demon?”

“That I don’t know,” Killian said. He ran his finger over his ring and his praecant began to decrease in size and slither back into the ring.

“He was here for her. Who is she?” Lyon said.

Lydia had been waiting for Lyon to return for days. She didn’t think it would be in this circumstance. Killian began explaining how Lydia had come to be with them and what role Lyon played in all of this. She wasn’t listening to a word he said.

“She saw you before you left!” Killian yelled.

“I don’t remember her. And if she is one of them, why is she still here?” Lyon remarked.

“She’s helped a lot more people in the past few days than you have in months!”

“What do you mean a demon?” she interrupted them.

They both stopped and stared at her with a stupefied look.

“You didn’t know he was a demon?” Lyon asked.

“He’s not, he’s human.”

Killian grabbed her by the shoulders, “Lydia, that was a demon.”

“That’s not possible.”

“She’s not a very good witch, is she? She can’t even tell what a demon is!” Lyon said.

“Lyon!” Killian yelled.

“What did a demon want with her?” Lyon asked.

“He’s not a demon,” Lydia argued.

“Yes, he is,” they both said.

They spoke over her again, discussing the only reasons a demon could be searching for someone.

“I thought they were all gone,” Killian said.

“I’ve only seen two in my entire life, other than him, and I’ve been all over. They pretty much are extinct.”

“So, what would he want with her?”

“Maybe someone hired him, I heard of wealthy families paying them to kill off any enemy. But that was a long time ago.”

“Or maybe the coven?” Killian said.

“A lot of people would pay handsomely to find out there’s still an old coven left and where they’ve been hiding all these years. He could have just taken her if he really wanted to and there would be nothing any of us could have done to stop him.”

“Why didn’t he? A girl from her Coven was found dead by humans and she had sacrificial carvings all over her, maybe that has something to do with him.”

Lydia couldn’t stand them talking to her, as if she weren’t even there, any longer. She rushed off to her tent and sat at the end of the cot looking out the open door to the forest. For a moment, she could have sworn she saw Onyx’s face in-between two pine trees.

Killian walked in. “Lyon’s gone to look up any information he can about the demon.”

“His name’s Onyx and Lyon should be looking up information about where Ara might be.”

“I told him that as well. He’s gone to look in his library.”

“Great, let’s focus on that.”

Lydia had been losing focus as to why she was here in the first place, Ara. Ara is what is important and she had to keep that in the forefront of her mind. However, her thoughts drifted back to Onyx and what could possibly be happening. She felt a kind of guilt that she hadn't been thinking of him lately. Typically, he consumed her thoughts but now she thought about Arabella and Killian’s warmth against her.

“He’s not what you think he is. He’s kind and caring. He’s been helping Edna for months.”

“Edna?”

“There’s this human woman that I know. She lives in his house. It was his father’s he inherited it and let Edna stay. Does that sound like a demon to you?”

“I know this is hard for you to believe but everything demons do is for a purpose. There must have been a reason he came to that house and met you.”

“Edna recognized him.”

She was becoming irritated. She had known Onyx for months and only knew Killian for a few days. She couldn’t wrap her mind around why she listened to Killian. But, there was something, deep down, that pulled her away from Onyx.

“It doesn’t matter. Their whole existence is to deceive, they don’t care about our petty dramas, they are immortal. You saw how dark the sky got, and then right as he was gone it cleared. They aren’t natural creatures, nature reacts negatively to them in both realms. Have you ever seen him in direct sunlight?”

“What? Of course.”

In truth, she couldn’t remember being outside in the daytime with him. Every time she had gone to Edna’s it was at night. Even when she had been there in the day she couldn’t remember if he had followed her out or not, she hadn’t been focusing on him at the time.

“I don’t remember.”

He sat on the cot next to her. His added weight on the bed slid her into him. She didn’t lean away.

“If he was lying about who he is, why didn’t he just take me before? Human or not Edna couldn’t have stopped him.”

“I don’t know.”

“You said they were extinct.”

“I said mostly extinct. The only thing that can kill them is each other so they killed one another before they could be killed. There aren’t many left.”

A crash interrupted their conversation. Killian and Lydia ran out of the tent toward Lyon’s tent where the noise originated. A large stack of books had fallen over. Lyon was digging through the pile grumbling to himself. Sofia was curled up in the corner reading through a heavy green stained book. She smiled up at Lydia and Killian when she realized they had come in.

“He couldn’t do it alone,” Sofia said.

“Found it!” Lyon yelled.

He hauled a black book with a red leather latch to his desk in the middle of the room. He began scanning the pages furiously. From what Lydia could see, there were images of people at the beginning of each section. She saw the word “demon” sporadically on the pages. “Lemegeton” was at the top of each page. It was an encyclopedia of demons. He wasn’t even looking for information on Arabella. Lydia slammed her hands down on the desk. Lyon stopped reading and looked up at her with a brow raised.

“My friend is being tortured right now. It’s already been too long. I need you to tell me where she is,” she said as calmly as she could.

“I don’t know where she is,” he said mocking her tone.

Lydia lost control of her arms as she flung the book and several sheets of paper off his desk. Lyon seemed completely unamused but offered what little advice he had.

“What was she sent away for?” he asked as he slouched back into his chair.

“She kissed….a woman.”

“Homosexuality. I have no idea. They keep those things very secretive.”

Lydia stared at him as she felt the heat from her praecant begin to rise.

“Ok, look there’s a book I read once. It’s here somewhere.” He began digging through the piles again. Then pulled more books out of his cabinet. He unrolled a few scrolls tucked inside a book and began reading. “Hmmm…water? Right, yes. The cleanse of running water. That’s it. that’s all I’ve got.”

Lydia yanked the scroll from him.

“Careful!” he yelled.

It was a page of a book with “Chapter 17 Water Purification of an Impure Soul,” written on the front. An image of a man holding another man underneath the water of a river.

“This? This is all you have? How do you even know that’s what it’s for?”

“It was from a history book written by an old law Guardian decades ago. That’s the only page that survived.”

Lydia sat down defeated. She didn’t think it was possible to be let down any more than she had been already and yet here she was.

“Old law covens are some of the rarest books. This is the best I have. But, there is a group of Wiccans in the city. For humans, they’re pretty well versed in magic. Maybe they can help you.”

“How would humans know about a ritual that’s secret even among their own people?” Killian said the same thing Lydia was thinking.

“They have a seer that’s where I get my… information from.”

Lyon and Killian had a silent exchange. Lydia chose to ignore it.

“Look, Guardians don’t write down their rituals anymore. That’s the best I can do.”

Lydia knew that was true, they never had books, other than spell books and grimoires. Everything they were taught about their history was oral.

“Why would your seer help me?”

“Let’s just say, they owe me a few favors.”

“Where are they?” she asked.

“I’ll have to take you there but after that, you’re on your own.”

“Thank you. That’s all I want.”

Lydia headed back to her tent to pack the few items she had accumulated since she had been here, most of it was Sofia’s old clothes.

“Lydia,” Killian said entering the tent.

Tears swelled in her eyes. She had never intended of getting close with him or any of the others but she had. She knew this would be the last time she would see any of them. Her and Arabella would have to go far away.

“I wish I could have helped more around here,” she didn’t know what else to say.

“I’m going with you,” Killian said.

Lydia sighed, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m going with you, you can’t do this alone.”

“You’ve done more than enough.”

“Lydia, I’m not leaving you. We need you just as much as you need us.”

“That’s too dangerous with Covet…”

“They’re coming anyway. We might as well be in this together. I can’t let you leave without me.” He grabbed the side of her face and kissed her. She dropped the clothes she had in her hands. She was stunned and elated. She felt guilty for being so at peace in his arms while Ara was facing unknown horrors. But for that brief moment, she let herself melt into him and embraced the fleeting happiness.