Chapter 9

Istaggered backward, words evaporating on my tongue.

Shadow or whomever he was, climbed off the footboard, his movements so fluid they looked like a choreographed dance. "There's no need to fear me, highness." His voice was smooth and musical, like a lullaby if only he wasn't some shapeshifting, ninja-clad assassin.

I mean, I wasn't certain about the assassin part, but he certainly looked lethal enough, even if he wasn't brandishing any weapons.

Flattening my back against the wall behind me, I pointed my dagger at him again. "Yeah, well, I just saw a man turn into a bird and back into a man, so I think fear is quite the appropriate reaction, don't you think? And why do you keep calling me highness?"

Silver specks glimmered in the dark depths of his gaze as it flickered from my blade then back up to meet my eyes. "You'd rather I call you by a different title? Are you not a daughter of the All Spirit, a princess of the elementals?" he asked as he took a slow step back, never losing track of the weapon in my hand.

I shook my head, words failing to piece themselves together. Daughter of the… what? A princess of the who? "None of that answered my true question, but let's stick with Avery for now, okay?" I said, slowly lowering the dagger. Something in my core told me he wouldn't dare get near me so long as I held this blade.

How in the scorching sun this thing followed me from the bone-queen's kingdom still prickled my skull.

"As you wish, Avery."

I sighed, expunging a slow and shuddering breath. I had so much unsettled energy rippling through my muscles after that soul wrenching dream, waking up to find a stranger in my room speaking in riddles did not help.

What I needed was tea. A full kettle of it. Or I would rip out of my own skin soon.

Wrapping my mind around the fact I was talking to my crow-now-turned-man made my head twist into a pretzel. Perhaps he was connected to everything that happened recently? I mean, I'd always known there was something out there, but aside from the time I saw those beasts chase my family down the mountain, I'd never seen anything like him outside of my dreams.

"Listen," I began, uncertain if I should still call him by my bird's name. "Shadow?"

He smiled and nodded.

All right then. I offered him a half smile back as a peace offering. Knowing the dream dagger made him uneasy, I tucked it into the waistband of my stretchy pants and slowly walked out barefoot from around my bed.

I wasn't sure what he was yet, and it was better to remain cautious. "Look," I said. "I'm really sorry for seeming rude, but I literally just woke up from a bad dream, and finding a strange man in my room…"

Taking note of my unspoken cues, he widened the gap between us. Seemed he was as weary of me as I was of him.

"My apologies. I shouldn't have presented myself to you in this way."

Yeah. No kidding. I was sure there had to be other subtler ways to reveal you're a shape-shifting bird to someone.

Making sure not to take my eyes off him, I continued toward my small kitchen, my throat thirsty for the soothing sweet notes of chamomile, my nerves anxious for the mind-calming aroma of lavender. I grabbed the kettle and filled it with tap water, and with my back to him, I said, "Can I offer you a cup of tea? I mean, do shapeshifting crows even drink tea?"

"I'm not a shapeshifting crow, Avery. I'm neither animal nor human."

I stopped for a second, remembering the way his tight, black clothes clung to every single male muscle of his ripped body. He looked damn human to me. "So, no tea?" I asked, holding up my assorted-tea box.

Silence.

Okay. No tea for the non-animal, non-human.

After flicking on the stove and placing the kettle on the burner, I turned to face him, and my heart plunged into the pit of my gut.

Shadow stood in the middle of my newly rearranged apartment. My dresser had been relieved of all its drawers. Pajamas, underwear, bras, and T-shirts shamelessly lay strewn across the floor. Every book I owned decorated the floor in a sea of trampled pages. My closet had apparently decided to vomit all my belongings into the middle of the floor.

And my drawings…

I gulped, but the saliva tasted of sand and broken glass. Everything I'd had pinned on the walls was gone.

I'd been so dumbstruck at finding this man in my room, I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed until now that it seemed a tornado had touched down in my apartment. I couldn't help my gaze from darting everywhere as I walked out to the center of the floor. "What the hell happened here?"

"Vampires came for you this morning. I had no choice but to reveal myself to get them to leave."

I choked on my own saliva. "What do you mean vam—" But I couldn't even finish my sentence when I noticed my sketchpad was missing. Panic ripped my heart straight down the middle.

No. No. No.

Rushing past him toward my desk, my blood iced when my fear was confirmed. I spun toward Shadow, my voice hard. "My drawings. Where are they?"

Shadow shrugged. "They took many things."

Heat flushed up my neck. "Who would do this? Why would they do this?" Fury built behind my eyes as my fists clenched. Staying composed was becoming increasingly difficult. Since waking up, all this creature had done was spew nonsense. I needed real answers.

Before we got to the assholes who broke into my apartment and stole my drawings, I needed to know one thing first.

An electric current ran through my hands as static energy crackled by my ears, those voices I'd heard back by the pet store—right before the incident with the bus—floated in whispers around me again.

My hair lifted above my shoulders as if gravity had ceased to exist. I didn't understand what was happening to me, but the sensations were both terrifying and intoxicating.

And right now, intoxication won the battle.

Stepping closer to him, I said, "I'm done with the riddles. You're going to tell me exactly what you are and what you're doing here. And speak plainly or I swear I'll pull out the dagger."

His nostrils flared as he stood straighter. "Breathe, Avery. Unless you want to blow the top of this building off with that anger."

The loose papers and strewn clothes swirled in my room as if some vortex had sprouted out of nowhere. My hand burned and I looked down at my palm. The triangle scar pulsed with an internal blue light.

Closing my hand, I peered at Shadow, fear wrapping around me like an icy tentacle as the images of what happened with that bus flashed in my brain. Hissing in pain, I pushed on, "Answer the question."

His brow dipped, black tendrils of his feather-like hair swishing in the oscillating wind. "I'm what your kind calls a sylph."

I blinked. "What the hell is a sylph? And what do you mean by my kind?"

He cocked his head. "Mages, or as your realm would call them—witches," he uttered, as if I should have known that. "You are Spirit-Marked, a witch blessed by the All Spirit, born with the essence and power of all creation, the four elements of life—Air, Earth, Water, and Fire."

The gears in my brain spun wildly, the energy around my ears still crackling. "Go on."

The black pools of his eyes swirled with shadows as he assessed what was happening around us. Clearly, whatever I was doing to cause this electric vortex was upsetting him. But he remained stern, his spine an unmovable pole, his lips a hardline slashing across his face. "I'm an Air Spirit. A guardian—your guardian. Chosen as your conduit to the essence from where you draw your power."

A normal person might have laughed. Maybe even told him to fuck-off. But I'd been hoping for answers for over a decade, and this sylph, air guardian, or whatever he called himself, regardless of his riddles, seemed to be full of them—the answers I'd wanted so desperately.

If it hadn't been for the fact I was affecting the air around me for the second time, and that I'd seen what he was with my very own eyes, or that a dagger I'd apparently pulled from my dream was tucked in my waistband, I would have told him to drag his ass out of my apartment.

But I'd always known I was something other. And even though I didn't know what he was talking about, his words felt real.

Gulping several mouthfuls of air, I reeled in my anger until the electric charge in the room fizzled out, the swirling air dying with it, papers and clothes falling back to the floor. My shoulders relaxed and the rage I'd felt at the realization I'd been violated—that people had been in my home and stolen from me, stolen the drawings I'd suffered countless nightmares to draw—simmered beneath my skin, but it was no longer blazing through me.

The kettle whistled, cutting off my thoughts.

Without saying anything else, I marched to the stove and shut off the burner. Reaching for the cabinet over the sink, I pulled out my oversized mug, poured the boiling hot water, and dropped in the teabag.

Each movement was muscle memory. The familiarity grounding me in the middle of this mess. Everything was happening at lightning speed. As much as I'd wanted answers all my life, I hadn't been ready for the onslaught of them.

With my back to him, I waited for the tea to steep. Taking the time to collect myself, I perked up as something he'd said plucked a memory from my mind.

He'd mentioned it twice. First, when he'd called me daughter of the All Spirit, a princess of the elementals. And now, when he said I was apparently Spirit-Marked. My father once told me about my mother communing with elemental spirits.

After letting the tea sit for two minutes, I added a teaspoon of honey, then carried my mug across the small space to my bed. Shadow's eyes tracked every move I made, or perhaps it was the dagger he was tracking. The thing kept making him so nervous, I felt his unease rumble off him as I walked past him.

As I sat down on my bed, his words sunk deeper into me, unraveling all the questions I'd harbored since losing my parents.

Talking about that day always triggered an avalanche of sadness and maddening resentment. Choking on the words, I began, "The day my parents died, we'd been on our last camping trip. My mom… she went off by herself sometime after lunch, mumbling something about an offering, and needing to make sure we were safe." My voice cracked as every painful moment from that awful day sliced through my flesh with fresh cuts.

Regardless of how hard I'd tried to shield myself from those images, they existed in my mind like I'd seen them yesterday.

The sky had been the palest shade of bluish-gray and the sun had been so blinding bright, it looked white. Not a single cloud had been in sight. Still, one of the most peculiar sensations that day had been how physical the wind had felt. "The breeze…the way it touched me. It wasn't like any other day when it just swishes past you and flips your hair. That day, I felt it touch me as if fingers were walking on my skin."

Lowering my chin, I sighed, recalling how I'd pranced through the brush, giggling as butterflies fluttered around me, not truly questioning why things felt so odd.

I'd been so happy. So oblivious. So stupid.

Shadow remained silent as he waited for me to continue. My breath stilled for a moment. He stood so poised—tall, chest broad, hands clasped behind his back, his manner so elegant, he looked out of place in my small apartment. Recalling the bone-queen, I thought he'd make more sense standing in her throne room as part of her court.

His beautiful, glittering eyes softened over me as he bowed his head in a short nod, a lock of midnight hair falling over his brow. Understanding of my pain shimmered in his gaze and he granted me the pause I needed before continuing.

I offered him a gentle smile before sipping my tea, the hot flowery aroma a balm to my frayed nerves, the hot liquid a soothing coat down my throat.

Wrapping both my hands around the warmth of my mug, I inhaled the steam and regained my composure. "I followed her down to the creek." I smiled, thinking back to how silly I was hiding behind trees and bushes so she wouldn't see me. "She sat on a stony ledge, back to me, beautiful golden hair swirling around her as she whispered things I couldn't hear."

As if physically transported to that moment, I stared out into the middle of my room. The walls fell away, and the furniture disappeared. All that remained was my mother sitting on that large rock.

Mimicking her movements, I said, "She reached into a jar filled with white sand and took a pinch of the powdery grains then threw them in the air as she said…" I paused, my heart beating so fast it could gallop out of my chest.

I'd never been able to recall her words before, yet now, as I watched the memory playing out before me, I heard her voice so clear it made my insides tremble. "I call to the summer breeze and the roaring wind, to the echoing song and the lifting wings. Spirit of air, you who are mighty fierce and forever free, breathe your power into me. I summon the four winds to protect and conceal the one who came from me. Bless this circle, keep her safe and free. As your will, so mote it be."

A ripple of energy blew through my room as I repeated every word. My entire being felt instantly charged, almost as if I'd stuck my hand into a wall socket, but instead of being shocked and charred, I was glowing like the sun. Then the glow subsided as quickly as it appeared.

Shadow fell to his knees. He panted, body hunching over. I shot to my feet, tea spilling over the lip of the mug and onto my clothes. I hissed at the scalding heat. Placing the mug on my nightstand and wiping the wetness on my sweater, I rushed to him, kneeling beside him. "Shadow, are you okay?"

Lifting his pained gaze to me, he nodded. "Seems your mother was a powerful witch."

"The words I chanted?—"

"An artfully woven spell. Meant to summon an Air Spirit. To take its power."

I reached under one of his arms and helped him up, guiding him toward my bed. The hardness of his muscles and the weight of his body felt like that of a man, but the energy vibrating off him told a different story.

It was almost as if his true self was fighting to break free of the human form he was in. Whatever he kept trapped inside felt colossal and one hundred percent otherworldly.

"It's strange," I said as we both sat down, and I pressed an uninvited hand to his hard chest. "The energy flowing from you, it flowed through me, too."

"The spell your mother cast invokes one of my kind and temporarily transfers our power to the spellcaster."

Lifting my gaze to his, I peered at him in awe. From his boyish good looks to his impressive muscular size, he seemed so human. And yet, he'd also been my injured crow. I was so confused by all this that a part of me believed I was still dreaming.

His lips curved into a gentle smile, as if he could read my thoughts. "Thank you."

"For what?"

He rotated his right shoulder. "For taking care of my wing."

I looked at him curiously. "But I thought you're neither animal nor human."

"You have much to learn, Avery." He winked, his expression warm and unusually calming. "When one of my kind takes a mortal form, we embody that form's physical properties. We experience the world as they would, animal or human."

"So, you would drink tea, then?"

He rolled his eyes in a very successful human manner. "I guess… I would," he mused. "I haven't taken a human form in quite some time."

There was so much I wanted to ask him now, like how old he was, and what other forms he could take. I wanted to know why he'd come to me as a crow first and not a man. But there were other more important questions looming.

"I'm so sorry for whatever it was I did with those words," I began.

"I will recover. And in time you will learn the true power of words."

"Was my mom… was she like me, Spirit-Marked? Is that why she tried to summon an air spirit?"

"I didn't know your mother, but from the way that spell was constructed, she was a powerful witch, but not like you. You're the first Spirit-Marked in centuries. Your power comes from within, not without. You have no need for spells to summon our kind."

Every time I received an answer, it was weighed down by more questions. After fourteen years of trying to figure out what happened to my parents, or why they were ripped from me, I realized I knew even less about who they were. About what I was. "There's so much I don't understand."

He reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder. "That's why I'm here, Avery."

I huffed and stood, shaking his hand off. "Okay, but why now, after all this time?" I bit out, my voice harsh. "My parents died fourteen years ago, killed by some... thing. No one's ever believed me. Making me out to be some damaged kid who is mentally sick. Now, after everything that's happened since you showed up, there's proof I'm not crazy."

"Avery, I do not hold the answers to what happened to your parents."

"I've been so alone," I went on, unable to look at him, my insides churning. "Lost. Scared." Slowly sliding my gaze toward him, I sharpened all my torment into an arrow tip and aimed it at him. "If you're who you say you are, why didn't you come for me sooner?"

"Your mother must have known you were in grave danger if she tried to summon one of my kind for a protection spell. She must have bound your magic. That would explain why your abilities were blocked, and how you were hidden from us."

I fisted my hand, obscuring the scar on my palm, the memory of the pulsing power that had flared in me making me shiver. "But why block my magic? Why take away my ability to protect myself? And if she was trying to hide me from you, how were you able to find me?"

"The spell must have been broken. Perhaps it was tied to the resurgence."

I sunk my face into my palms and sighed. "I didn't even know your kind existed and now you're talking about broken spells and a resurgence?"

I'd not realized he'd stood up until he gently pried my hands away from my face. "I know this is a lot to take in, Avery. I'm so sorry for placing this burden on you. I know you must have a myriad of questions, so how about we start with what happened here earlier and the vortex you created. That wasn't the first time you used magic, was it?"

Given my unsurprised reaction to what I'd done in my room, he must have guessed I'd done it before, so I nodded and showed him my scar.

"The symbol for Air. When did it appear?"

"Earlier," I said."After you showed up and I left for work. There was an incident with a boy. He ran into the street. I knew I wouldn't be able to save him from getting hit by the bus so a part of me panicked and suddenly, the wind did that thing where it swirled. And the voices. They all whispered things I couldn't understand and somehow, I guess, I commanded the wind to stop that bus."

Tears beaded at the corners of my eyes, and I wiped at them. "Whatever this is inside me, it made me hurt people. Maybe that's why my mother shielded this from me. Because she knew I was a danger to others."

Reaching for my shoulders, he said, "Avery, listen. Your powers are manifesting faster than normal because they've been dormant for so long. You weren't ready. Your powers are tied to your spirit and connected to your emotions. If left unchecked, yes, they can be dangerous. But that's why spirit guardians were chosen to guide you."

Taking my hand, he slowly traced the mark with his finger, his soft touch sending a shiver across my skin. "This is my mark on your palm. My arrival awakened the essence of Air in you, but you had no time to accommodate for the surge of power—that was my fault. I take full responsibility for anyone who got hurt. You shouldn't feel guilty about what happened. I should have shown myself to you in human form, told you about your power before you left. The unfortunate reality is, our instinct is to remain in animal form, choosing only to become human in extreme situations. But I should've known better."

Staring down at my hand, I wondered about what he'd said when I asked how he'd been able to find me. Taking my hand back, I lifted my gaze to his. "You mentioned a resurgence as the reason the spell my mom used to bind me broke."

"All life is connected by the All Spirit, here on Earth and across all other realms."

Other realms? Maybe like the one I'd seen in my vision? "Tell me more about that."

"Elemental power, or magic, however you want to call it, manifests differently in every realm. On Earth, for a witch to command an element, they must tether themselves to an elemental spirit, whether that spirit wants to bond to the spellcaster or not. And once a witch chooses an element—once she tethers herself to a spirit—she cannot change elements.

"The only ones who can wield all four elemental powers are those born as Spirit Marked, like you. Your spirit guardians are also chosen directly by the All Spirit and granted to you, they are not forced into an unwilling bond when young witches come into their powers, between the ages of seven to ten. In this realm, only two have ever been born blessed by the All Spirit. You're the second. Both instances corresponded with a big resurgence of natural energy, typically when the planet undergoes a cleansing."

He leaned his back against the brick wall and stuck his hands into his pockets, drawing my gaze to his broad chest. His movements were so fluid and natural, it was hard imagining he was anything but a real man. "During a cleansing, the All Spirit releases massive amounts of energy from the earth's core," he went on, oblivious to the thoughts circling in my head. "You'll notice higher occurrences of earthquakes, storms, tsunamis, forest fires all taking place in clusters of decades. A Spirit Marked is supposed to help restore any imbalance caused by these occurrences.

"We had a severe spike in energy the day I found you. That spike must have been so high, it broke through the binding threads of your mother's spell. Your magical signature was like a beacon, and I immediately flew to you as fast as I could."

I bit my bottom lip trying to make sense of all this new information. "But if a Spirit Marked is supposed to help restore the planet, why would my mother bind me or hide me from you? My earliest memories of my family revolve around running away from something or someone. Whatever my parents were running from found us and killed them. Yet, they spared me."

He crossed his arms and shrugged. "Or your mother hid you from them as well. She used elemental magic to protect you. Makes sense that natural energy—the energy from the All Spirit—would break the spell."

I recalled the recent earthquake that had struck London. Something that caught geologists by surprise. Even the arctic front that hit the Northeast recently had been record setting.

I looked down at my hand, the strange symbol seared into my hand was now a pinkish scar on my palm. "But none of this explains why my parents were killed. Or what those things were."

Shadow's gaze deepened. "The energy released during a cleansing is very powerful. There are entities in this world, others who seek to harness its power for evil. Your parents must have known something was after you—after your power. It's the only reason that makes sense as to why she would shield you. Perhaps she wasn't trying to shield you from us, but from those meaning to hurt you. And clearly, you're still in danger."

A prickle ran across my shoulder blades. "What do you mean?"

"Vampires came looking for you, Avery. Witches and vampires have been at odds for centuries. It can't be a good sign they were here."

I swallowed deeply. Vampires had broken into my apartment and stolen my drawings? My mind instantly flashed to my dreams of Azrael and Kane. The veins in my neck tensed and an uncomfortable chill scaled down my back.

Shadow's eyes narrowed. "This is not the first time you've heard about vampires."

The confirmation that I had been right all along—that vampires existed—sent a flood of adrenaline rushing through my system. I paced. Did that mean Azrael and Kane were also real? That they existed outside of my dreams and visions?

"Ever since my parents passed away," I began, carving tracks on the floor as I paced, "I've had vivid dreams. Visions of a world and of creatures I've never seen, yet that I've always suspected were real. The day you broke through my window, that morning I'd dreamt of that world. That's what was on my walls and on the sketch pad they took. Pictures of my dreams. Of—" I cut myself off, fearful of sounding ridiculous at my fascination. Especially if vampires were the reason I was in danger. If that's who my mom was trying to protect me from.

I stopped pacing and looked at Shadow. "Maybe that's why I keep having these dreams. A warning perhaps? If those things came looking for me here, then maybe they are the ones responsible for killing my parents. Or they know who is."

Shadow ran a hand through his hair. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Avery. We don't know why they were here. We can't go assuming anything other than the fact that you are in danger, and we need to find a safe place for you to prepare for what's coming."

"What do you mean?"

"There are three more guardians who will soon detect your presence. The amount of magic that will spring inside you will be more than you will be able to control. We need to find a place where not only you will be safe, but where we can minimize the collateral damage."

Taking a step back, I stared at him in disbelief. "I can't go anywhere. Not when I'm so close to finding out what happened to my parents. I need to know why those vampires came looking for me. And why they took my drawings."

Shadow approached but stopped short when he caught sight of the dagger tucked in my waistband. His face paled.

"What is it?" I asked. "What bothers you so much about this dagger?"

The angles of his cheekbones sharpened. "I wasn't certain before, but the power emitting from it is undeniable. But how you've come to possess it is an impossibility I fail to comprehend. The blade you hold is called Erelldyl, and it is not of this realm."

"I pulled it out of my dream, as crazy as that sounds. I mean, at least I think I did. I have no clue how I brought it back with me."

His jaw muscles moved as he thought for a second. "Forged from the depths of the Thorynth caverns, it is the only weapon known to have the power to kill an immortal. Erelldyl was one of four magical relics bequeathed by the Ancient to each of the four ruling races of Allorn, the birthplace of all elementals. The birthplace of your foremothers."

I took a small step toward him. "The bone queen. She mentioned the Ancient."

"Bone queen?"

"In my dream, she wore a crown made of bones. She was unlike anything I had ever seen. Tall, regal, frighteningly beautiful."

This time he didn't care that I held the immortal-killing sword, and he closed the gap between us, grabbing me by the shoulders. "You saw Esarelle?" A veil of shadows draped over his features, his onyx-colored eyes growing impossibly dark, like a blackhole in outer space.

Almost losing myself in those depths, I blinked several times. "I… guess? I don't remember their names."

"There was more than one?" His grip tightened, alarm coating his voice.

"Another queen it seemed. Her sister," I stammered.

He peered away from me as if lost in turbulent thought. "Amarenthia…" The word was spoken as if saying the name out loud was a mortal sin. "Did they see you?" he asked.

Taking note of the utter dread blanketing his face, the inside of my mouth dried up like a desert. "Esarelle... she was angry when she saw I held the dagger. That's why she sent her dogs after me. What I saw… that wasn't just a dream, was it?"

Pivoting his gaze back to me, his lips thinned. "I'm afraid not."