11. Eleven

Eleven

Willow

"Sooner rather than later can mean many things, little wanderer. Like next week instead of a month. Or on his deathbed, rather than when he gets to the beyond." Draken, once again, tries to talk me out of my decision.

They knew without me even saying anything that my choice was made.

Might as well face him now and get it over with. Once I convinced myself there's nothing he can do to me here but possibly tell me something that hurts my feelings, that made my mind up for me.

"We can't put the forest off longer than we have to. I have a feeling the longer we take to get there, the harder it's going to become. You all heard what Trex said. Franklin's the Summum-Master's right-hand, not just some lackey. He knows he's been captured. There's no way he doesn't. If it were me in that position, I'd make sure everyone close to me was secure and safe. That's what we all would do. I'm trying to think strategically here, not emotionally," I say, hoping to relate enough to Corentin's and Tillman's leadership side that they agree with me.

By the contemplative look on Corentin's face and the smirk on Tillman's, they know that's exactly what I'm doing, but they aren't immediately disagreeing with me, so I'll call it a win for now.

"Fine, Will, but he's being brought in here, and we aren't leaving the room this time. Not even to hide in the shadows," Tillman declares, and I smile in victory.

He asks Ry, Nikoli, and San to go gather Franklin and with a quick kiss to my cheek from Oakly, she and Jamie decide to head back to the castle's kitchen and sit this interrogation out, which calms some of my nerves. I don't want Franklin to know who Oakly is. I don't even want him to lay his eyes on her. The farther from her he stays, the better.

The moment her guys enter this hallway with him, I feel it.

His disgusting, hate-filled magic is branded on me. Everything within me recognizes everything about him now. Him, Donald, Gish, I'm pretty sure every man higher up in the Mastery is bathed in evil essence and I'll never be able to wash their signatures away.

"Willow, I must say, the company you've decided to keep in this realm is profoundly disappointing." Franklin sighs as Ry shoves him into his seat forcefully.

The darkened side of my soul where I allow my most deranged, most angry thoughts and wants to live, is "profoundly disappointed" he looks as put together as he does. Admittedly, I was hoping he looked as fucked up as I did when I was rescued. I mean, a dragon did drop him from the sky, so he should at least have a broken nose.

"There's only one person in this room that's disappointing, Franklin, and I can assure you, it's none of us," I say coldly, holding his blank, lifeless eyes.

"Do not refer to me—"

"Do not speak to me with that tone. Not now, not ever again." I raise my voice to match his, cutting him off before he has the chance to even finish that command. He's not in control here.

The guys flood my chest with pride, and I let it bolster my confidence, my ego. I let it build up until I know I can sit upon their feelings like a throne rather than crumble under Franklin's brutal stare.

"Well, then tell me what it is you've dragged me out of my cage for. As much as I hate to admit it, you're a smart girl. I know you don't honestly believe you'll get much out of me on my society. So what else is it you want to know?" he says matter-of-factly.

"My mother."

"Ah, yes. I figured you'd want to know more about her. The two of you have more in common than I ever thought possible." His eyes glide across my men and his disgusted glare lands on Draken with a sneer.

"Don't." I growl, my dragon surfacing in clear threat.

"So not a mutt you let mark you but a mythical overgrown lizard." He scoffs.

"You're one more wrong word away from meeting your demise, Franklin. I've asked them not to kill you, but you insult one of my men again, and all bets are off," I swear. Both Draken's and Caspian's giddiness at the prospect of killing him bleeds into me and I smirk.

Those two are just waiting for my signal to off someone.

"Your men? My, you really are—"

"Just like her. I fucking get it. You've said it countless times now, so how about you just explain it to me a little more than that. I never would've pegged you for a repetitive man. One with so little importance to contribute to a conversation," I goad, hoping by insulting him he'll feed into my bait and actually give me some answers.

His eyes narrow on me in recognizable hatred and part of me wants to flinch away from his glare. It's a look I'm all too familiar with and if we'd been back in the nonmagical realm, or if I were strapped to a table in this moment, then I would've given in to my body's natural reflex, but I don't. I refuse to.

He can't hurt me here.

Nor will he ever hurt me again.

"Fine, I see no harm in you knowing the truth now. It'll only cause you pain, not me," he says with a disgusted, self-satisfied smirk, and I clench Draken's thigh tightly to keep him in his seat so Franklin will continue.

"Your mother was promised to me years before she was ever even born. It had been decided and that was that. She came from a strong, extremely Elementra-blessed bloodline. Not one of royalty but one of power and they were highly favored and protected by the ignorant creator you think so highly of. All that was remaining of their line was your grandmother and her Nexus by the time they were found. My Master knew a woman was going to be born from them, and that woman was promised to me," he finally says.

"I assume by the malice in your tone, her family was not a part of the Mastery, and they refused to be a part of it. That didn't bode well with you and the Summum-Master, did it?" I ask.

My lack of regard in reference to his master grates on his nerves. It's obvious by the way he clenches his fist and grits his teeth, but I couldn't care less. I have no respect for him, so I won't be showing any.

"They were given the decision, informed of what would happen to them if they refused. Their lives could have been easy, plentiful if they would've just agreed to the terms, but instead of taking the gracious offering, they ran, escaped like cowards straight to the nonmagical realm the first chance they got. They possibly would've escaped for good if my Master hadn't had left Elementra already before the portals closed. When word finally reached him that they'd escaped, he had to search the realms high and low, but he finally found them," he says with an awestruck smile on his face, bolstering with pride for his master, but something about what he just said is nagging something in my mind.

"The portals to the other realms closed before the nonmagical, how is it he was able to get through the other realms, then back here?"

Franklin tsks at me, shaking his head disapprovingly. "That's none of your concern. I only said as much on him as I did because it pertains to the story of your whore mother. Any more questions on him, and I will seal my lips," he threatens.

All my men visibly react to the harsh tone, but I send a pulse of calm through to them. I need Franklin to keep talking and they know that. They can't let their anger and protective urges interfere. There's something small I'm missing here. I can feel the pieces trying their best to connect in my mind, but still, there's something I can't quite put my finger on.

"So my grandmother's Nexus escaped to the nonmagical realm. That had to be five hundred years ago?" I ask, getting us back on track hopefully.

"Yes. He never would've found them so quickly if not for them completing their bond and releasing an immense amount of power. He was already searching the nonmagical realm for them, and when that happened, he knew exactly where they were."

That story, that timeline…Why does this sound so—

Oh my Elementra.

"What is it, princess?"

"Gaster."

"What? What about him?"

Just a small shake of my head lets them know I can't talk about it right now, and I send some reassurance down the bond that nothing's actually wrong. I calm the rapid rise and fall of my chest so I don't give it away to Franklin that he just gave me an answer to anything, but it's a cruel fight as water begins to well in my eyes.

Gaster was searching for my grandparents in the nonmagical realm. He got transported back here because the Summum-Master found them first.

I don't know how I know that to be the answer, but I just do. My hair follicles standing on their ends, and the swirling in my gut tells me that's the truth. My instincts basically scream it, so I break myself out of the heartwarming and heartbreaking realization, and demand, "Fast forward to my mother." And with a small sneer and roll of his eyes, he does.

"After they were returned to Elementra, some two hundred years plus passed, and they were kept under lock and key. We kept them together as a Nexus because we knew it'd result in what we needed. Then finally your grandmother fell pregnant. And your mother, the woman promised to me, was born. But once again, your grandparents ran. This time they stayed in Elementra, but their fatal flaw was not concealing your mother for when her power emerged. Granted they had no way of knowing it would happen so soon. She was the youngest to date, although not recorded, but a fourteen-year-old girl with powers that strong, it was impossible not to feel it and know it was her. Her powers bursting free led us right to them and I was instructed to take her away. So we ended up in the nonmagical realm."

Fourteen…like me. Like us.

"And my grandparents?" I ask with barely restrained anger. I already know the answer, but I want him to say it.

"They were kept prisoner for many, many years. As I said, their bloodline was incredibly powerful, and we needed it. Until we didn't," he says, shrugging his shoulders. It's so callous, so emotionless, I forcefully have to hold my dragon at bay. She wants to rip him to pieces, and honestly so do I.

"You've been collecting my blood since I was six. What is it about our bloodline that's so special?"

"Now, Willow, I couldn't possibly tell you that. That's a well-guarded secret, very few know the answer to. But I will tell you, yours is stronger than both your mother's and grandmother's," he says proudly.

This is the first time in my life I can recall receiving a hint of pride from him, and it makes me sick to my stomach. I want to both puke and punch him in the face until he has no teeth left to show off. My men sense it, and they all, well…Corentin and Tillman send me warm, calming emotions, while Draken and Caspian try to rile me up more.

"You were alive for all of this? How old are you exactly?" I ask between gritted teeth.

"I'm nearing a thousand. I see the deadly look in your eye, Willow, but I can assure you, I'm not that much of a monster. Your mother remained untouched until she was eighteen. If you cannot handle the truth of your mother's story, then maybe you aren't mature enough to hear it," he says as though me being irate over the fact her fucking age shouldn't play a role in when it was and wasn't acceptable to touch her against her will is childish.

It takes every drop of will I have to lock everything inside of me away. I have every right to be as furious as I am. My men are furious over the simple fact this is wrong, so fucking wrong, because that's a normal reaction normal people have when listening to bullshit like this.

"Continue," I grit out.

"For twelve years, we stayed in the nonmagical realm. I was tasked with gaining our following there, but one day, I came home from work to a massacre in the estate and your mother was gone. My house staff was slaughtered and there was no trace of her anywhere, so I knew she somehow got out of her cuffs and escaped. I informed my Master, but he instructed me to stay put and they would find her. So for almost two hundred years, I waited miserably in that forsaken realm, building an empire of worthy men to bring forth into our society.

"All those years passed with your mother going undetected, until one day, she finally slipped up, saving a child who'd been caught in the middle of a raid. The enforcers recognized her immediately. The image of her had been drilled into all their minds, and she and her entire Nexus was captured and returned to me.

"To wrap up a long, boring story, it didn't take long for her to fall pregnant, and I killed her entire Nexus in front of her the night she went into labor. I'm positive that's what sent her into labor. Then you killed her with your birth. I thought maybe then you had a little more of me in you than her, but we both know that isn't true. She was just weak and couldn't withstand anymore."

His condescending laugh echoes through my ears as I rise from the table, eyes fully shifting. The noise of my chair shattering against the wall is barely heard through the menacing growl leaving my lips. All I see is red. And I'm going to paint this fucking room the same color to match.

Before I can maul him the way I want to, I'm whisked through the shadows and into the castle's lounge. I can't stop my claws from bursting through my skin, taking over the shape of my fingers. My men's touches barely register through my scale-covered skin, and the only noise that seems to pierce the rage is Oakly's worried gasp as she and Jamie jump straight up from the couch and head toward me. I can barely form a lucid sentence, so I shake my head and choke out.

"I need to shift. Now."

My voice is a deep timbre, my command clear as my dragon pleads with me to set her free, and my Nexus instantly jumps into action. I haven't shifted since before I was taken, and she can't take it any longer. I can't take it any longer. I need to soar through the skies just as bad as she does.

The moment they step me out of the transport, I rush to the back lawn. My skin's practically ripping itself apart and a mournful roar bursts from my throat as the shift takes hold and the flash of light is over before anyone has time to blink their eyes.

With two beats of my wings, I'm off the ground. I don't wait for Draken or the others. I need to fly. I need to feel something other than this gut-wrenching emotion.

I don't know the time that passes as all I can see is the fluff of the clouds and all I feel is the heat from my fire caressing my scales. My flames blend with the rays of the sun, wrapping around them to create purple lightning that spears through the sky and spreads like a spider web when my thunderous roar reverberates through them.

My mind can't quit conjuring up so many different scenarios on how differently my mother's life could've played out. I imagine those two hundred plus years she was free from my father as magical years. She and her men madly in love. Hidden in their solace, their sanctuary with nothing but each other to get lost in.

My heart cries out with both pride and determination, knowing she sacrificed her safety, security, to save a child from, no doubt, a horrendous situation. How selfless that decision was, despite her having to know what danger she was putting herself in.

As the noise of the mournful symphony I've created in the air simmers down, I release a deep breath that's accompanied by a throng of smoke that gets lost in the tide of the wind. When the last wisp leaves my nostrils, I force myself to release my regret and guilt with it. I am not to blame. I know this. My emotions are my own, and I can't let them undermine the decisions she made. I refuse to allow her life to be taken in vain.

I'll do anything and everything in my power to make her death meaningful. I'll give myself the life she deserved to have. And the man who put her through hell will get the reaping he so desperately deserves.

"Are you okay, little wanderer?" Draken mentally asks.

Some of my anger seeps out of me when his calming voice that's tinged in a purr laces itself around my mind. He always knows when I need him. My sweet dragon.

"I will be. I just needed to get some of these feelings out."

"The sky is the best place to let it all out, sweetness. Would you like some time up there alone?" he asks, completely understanding and as always so aware of exactly what I'm needing without me having to be the one to ask for it.

"Just a little while. I'll come down in a few."

His love for me and readiness to do whatever I need him to, wraps around my heart, and I feel the other two's as well. Caspian's doesn't come through as starkly, but he must be concentrating hard because a trickle of his understanding bleeds into me. He, more than any of them, knows that sometimes you need a little space before you let your emotions hurt the ones that don't deserve it.

Flying through the vast expanse, I let my mind wander on everything, I let my heart feel it all. The tears that drip from the eyes of my dragon are like raindrops falling from the dark clouds, but I don't stop. I let them water the forest below as I get it all out.

Elementra, please explain this to me.

Please. CC said my mother loved me, but how could she when a monster forced her to make me?

She lost everything because of me.

"No, Ultima unum, she did not lose everything."

Faster than I can blink, breathe, or think, I lose control over my wings, over my body. The clear blue and white sky in front of me blurs, then there's nothing but darkness.

"The time has come, Iris."

I hear Elementra's voice in my mind and my groggy eyes slowly peel open. Trying to force them to move faster, I quickly realize, these aren't my eyes, this isn't my body, and that wasn't my name she just said.

As I try to cut in and speak, I'm silenced. Clarity hits me tenfold as the questions that were just brewing through my mind are answered and I'm ordered to stay silent and listen.

Elementra has sent me back in time. Again.

But this time, I seem to have taken up space in someone else's body. I'm not just a bystander. When the eyes of the individual finally open all the way, the air is knocked out of my lungs.

No.

It's his room.

It's Franklin's torture room.

The sound of metal clanking together draws my attention, and their heavy head lulls to the side. My sight is met with skinny, fair-skinned arms that are covered in bruises and blood and limp hands that ball together repeatedly in fists.

No, no. We're chained to his wall. I recall so many times staring at these chains that hung against this wall like a never-ending threat. Every time I was strapped to the table, my eyes always found them, but I was never shackled to them.

"Elementra?" a soft voice asks. A voice that isn't mine, but it fills my heart with warmth and a hunger to know this person burns through me.

"Yes, my girl. It's time to come home. The second part of your journey starts now. Your Nexus awaits you, and they're ready," Elementra says.

With a deep exhale, the girl, woman, leans her head back against the wall. I feel the small thud, then elation fills my body.

"Finally," she breathes, and I feel my lips, her lips, I guess, stretch into a large smile.

Slowly, she pushes herself up to stand and deep in my chest, I feel the rippling of power start to uncoil itself like it's been knotted up for years, and now it's stretching out its limbs. It's pure, strong, very strong, and seemingly…familiar.

Wait…

This is…

Oh my God. Elementra. This is my mom. You've sent me back in time to her.

Another rift of Elementra's power shudders through me, real me, not my mother's body that I'm currently inhabiting, and my engrossed feelings settle as she forces me back into the recesses of my mother's mind.

Observe. That's all I'm supposed to do right now.

With a small chuckle, my mom grips the chains in her hands for only a second before they disintegrate into nothing. Confusion wars in my mind because I have no clue what is happening right now. Just moments ago, she felt weak, small, but now, she feels like a force of nature about to wreak fucking havoc.

I'm so here for this.

Winds with the strength of a category five hurricane rip through the torture room, slinging everything everywhere. Completely destroying it. Leaving it in nothing but ruin.

Shoving her air at the door, it flies off the hinges and shatters into thousands of pieces. As soon as she steps through the threshold, someone latches onto our arm, but with a quick slash of her hand, their throat's torn wide open.

I don't have a second to gawk or be amazed at her abilities before the familiar bright flash of light blinds us, then we're left standing on four massive silver paws.

She's the wolf.

When she throws her head back, howling, the entire foundation of the estate quakes and the sound of thundering footsteps pounds throughout the house. Standing in that hall with our tail wagging in the air, head lowered to the ground, fearsome growls fall from our lips.

And we wait…

When they finally approach, they skid to a halt, clearly not expecting to find my mother in full-on wolf form with a seriously vicious grin on her face. Both magicals and nonmagicals alike gather in the hallway, some with elements at the ready, some with guns, but none stand a chance. She rips through them faster than they can gather themselves. Her own elements burst free, circling her shifted form like armor.

She has all four elements.

Minutes pass by as she absolutely annihilates every single person in this estate. Any who gets in her way meets a gruesome demise, and rather than being terrified, I'm in awe of her. There's nothing weak or fragile about her. She's everything I want to be. Strong, fearless, courageous.

Coming up the stairs, she pauses, listening to see if there's anyone left, and after a moment of hearing nothing but the creak beneath her paws, she shifts back into her human form.

Her fingers leave a blood trail across the wall from where she drags them mindlessly over the paint, pictures, everything. My eyes track the path in this well-known hallway. It's so different, decorated for a time centuries ago, yet I know exactly what hallway she's on. Nothing's truly changed. It's just been modernized to the time as I know it and my breathing becomes labored the closer and closer to my childhood bedroom she gets.

When she slings the door open, for whatever reason, I was prepared to see it how it was the last time I laid my eyes on it, but of course it wouldn't be set up for that now. Instead, it's completely empty, until she walks in and stands in the middle of the room and releases a heavy breath.

"I'm sorry, my sweet dragonfly. I'm sorry I won't be here to protect you."

What did she just say?

There's no answer as once again, Elementra shoves me back down, but my eyes water because there're no coincidences. She's standing in the middle of my bedroom, apologizing to me even though she has no clue I'll even come to exist.

Gathering herself, she stomps out of the room without even a backward glance, but every room she passes, aside from that one, she destroys. She casts all her elements out and leaves them in complete disarray.

Reaching Franklin's study, she kicks his door in. The locking mechanism stands no chance behind the force she put in that kick, and it shatters to pieces on the floor while her elements attack the room with abandon. The only thing left untouched is the self-righteous portrait Franklin has sitting above his fireplace.

Lowering it down by vines, she runs her bloody fingers across his face, whispering, "Make no mistake, Franklin, you've done to me only what I've allowed. Little do you know, the next time I'm a prisoner of yours, I will be handing you your demise. I cannot wait to watch our daughter crumble everything you've worked for."

Slowly, she lays her lips to his forehead, then pulls her hand back and punches straight through the frame. Straight through his heart, then again straight through his blank, lifeless face. The glass shatters beneath her knuckles, slicing her hand wide open, but she doesn't even flinch as blood pools around her bare feet. Her rage burns through the pain and through me like it's my own, and maybe a little bit of it is. I have the same hatred in my heart for him that she does.

If I were in my own body, I'd surely be on the verge of passing out from how fast my heart is beating. She knew. She knew what was to come and what had to happen, and yet, she still chose this path. She chose me.

Time speeds up as she shifts back into her wolf form and runs through the mansion, leaving devastation in her wake. When she hits the tree line, her legs push her to unimaginable speeds. She moves like the wind through the forest as the trees seem to bend and bow to her.

Skirting to a halt, she lowers her head and sniffs around an old oak tree. Around and around it she smells until the hooting of an owl above catches her attention and she tilts her head up. When the majestic-looking bird flies off into the night, she shifts back into her human form once more and lowers herself to her knees.

"Time to go home," she murmurs before shifting her index finger on her left hand into a claw.

Starting from right below her middle finger, going counterclockwise, she carves out a four-point star in her palm. Then inside of that she does it again. And again. And again. Finally, once more. Five times she carves that star into her hand, leaving her palm a torn, bloody mess.

Placing her hand on the tree, she spreads the blood out in the shape again, murmuring, "Locus datus ab essentia mei esse. Per tempus et per spatium, libera me in desideratum locum."

As soon as the words leave her lips and her points meet together, right there in the middle of the tree trunk, a portal opens up. The swirling vortex is as colorful as a rainbow, and even through her, I feel its raw power glide across me like a second skin.

With a long exhale, she reaches her arm through, and I beg Elementra to let me carry on, follow her because I can feel my mind untangling from hers.

"Please, I need to know. Please," I beg. I scream, but Elementra doesn't allow it. I'm shoved out of my mother's mind, left standing there in an incorporeal form as I watch the portal close and the tree fades to nothing but ash as soon as my mother's foot steps through.

"She knew from the very beginning what to expect, Ultima unum. You have not seen the last of her story, but rest assured, she's sitting alongside me on a throne she deserves with her Nexus surrounding her. They are watching you and they are proud."

That's the last I hear as my eyes grow heavy, and the darkness sucks me in.

Opening my eyes, I'm confused as shit.

Before Elementra sucked me in, I was in the sky in my dragon form. Now, I'm sitting against the trunk of Tillman's and my tree, staring off into the clearing.

What the hell?

"WILLOW."

I jump up, running around the tree when I hear the bellowing of my name over and over. Panic, fear, hurt, and so many other emotions pound through my chest as my name continues to echo through the trees. Bursting through the edge of the path is not only my Nexus, but Oakly, her Nexus, and Gaster, all breathing hard, all screaming my name.

"What's wrong? What happened?" I frantically ask, taking a step toward them, but no one answers me, no one even acknowledges me.

"You said you felt her," Draken says, turning his worried, shifted eyes on Oakly.

"I did, I do. I sense her everywhere," Oakly yells back at him, running her hands through her hair.

"Guys, what the hell, I'm right here," I say, taking another few steps toward them, but again they all ignore me.

"Draken, you're sure you didn't see her anywhere in the sky? Maybe she flew outside the ward by accident," Tillman says calmly, but there's wildness in his eyes.

"I'm fucking sure. Do you seriously think I wouldn't have stayed up there or brought her back if I did?" He growls, taking a dangerous step in Tillman's direction.

"Whoa, whoa, easy, dragon, I'm right here," I say, finally approaching the whole group, growing increasingly pissed at whatever the hell they're playing at.

"Everyone, split up. Oakly, if you sense her, she's here somewhere and she might be hurt," Corentin orders and just like that, they all split off, heading in different directions, calling out for me, but bypassing me completely as I stand here with a slack jaw.

What is happening?

My ears roar with the pounding of my heart because obviously something is wrong. Very wrong. Patting my body down, my hands don't pass through like when I dream walk or in visions, but as I gaze down, I shriek.

My legs are distorted, barely visible even to me, and depending on how I turn them, they almost completely disappear. The same happens with my hands when I hold them out in front of me and turn them over. It's like seeing a mirage. One moment, I'm here. The next, I'm not.

"Guys…" I call out in a trembling voice, now full-on freaking out, and a tear slides down my cheek when none of them turn back to me.

"Please. Please hear me," I mumble softly in my mind.

Draken and Tillman whip around at the same time, which also draws Caspian's attention, and he jogs over to stand with Tillman, whose head is turning in every direction, searching for me. When I seek out Corentin, he's the only one looking in my direction with his head tilted to the side, staring in concentration.

"Corentin, please. I'm freaking out. None of you can hear or see me."

His eyes grow as wide as saucers. One minute, he's halfway across the clearing. The next, he's in front of me, picking me up and spinning me around. I latch my body in a death grip around his 'cause fuck me, that was petrifying.

"Shh, it's going to be okay. I see you, princess. There's nothing about you I don't see."

Gripping my hair, his fear and worry melt away to overwhelming excitement that I don't understand or have time to question it as he tilts my head back and plasters his lips to mine. He pours every bit of himself into me with every swipe of his tongue and I wrap my whole body around him as tightly as I can, sucking it all up regardless because I never want to go a moment again where they can't see, hear, or feel me.

"Little wanderer."

"Will."

"Primary."

The others all breathe as they surround us and Corentin reluctantly breaks our kiss and sets me back on my feet.

"Of everything I've been through, that was by far the scariest. Why couldn't any of you hear me or see me?"

"What?" Draken, Tillman, and Caspian all ask, confused.

"Because you were bending the light. My gift just emerged, princess. You were bending the rays of the sun. Instead of reflecting yourself the way I did, you made yourself invisible. As soon as I saw a glimmer of you, I was able to see through the magic." Corentin beams, running his thumb across my bottom lip.

Holy shit.

"That…that was your gift? You can do that?" I stutter.

"Yeah. You've seen me move in and out of the light. I just did it to get to you. You, on the other hand, moved in and never came back out, so essentially you made yourself invisible," he says, smiling.

I cast my wide eyes across the other three, who are just as surprised as me. Well, of course not Caspian. He's wearing his devilish smirk that says he expected nothing less. When I meet Gaster's and Oakly's gazes, I snicker as he looks back at me with so much pride, but Oakly is more furious than an angry bull.

"You're trying to kill us. Just admit it already," she says, crossing her arms and staring me down.

"I'm not. I swear. Elementra sucked me into the past literally mid-flight. I don't even know how I got into the clearing. I have no recollection whatsoever of landing, shifting back, or anything," I swear to all of them.

"We watched you come down, little wanderer. You descended like normal and everything. After a few minutes, you didn't respond to any of our mental connections, so we came out here to the clearing, and you weren't here. So we freaked out, called everyone in," Draken says, tugging me out of Corentin's arms and kissing me stupid.

"Yeah, I don't recall any of that. How long has it been?"

"Almost two hours," Caspian says darkly.

Damn.

By the look in his eye, I know if I had pulled this shit on my own, not of Elementra's making, I'd be in so much trouble.

"What did you see, child?" Gaster asks, cutting off the naughty fantasy I was creating in my mind about how Corentin and Caspian would deliver my punishment while Draken and Tillman watched. Maybe they'd participate. My flaming face and the small, quiet groans from the guys let me know I didn't hide that from my bonds very well.

"My mom. The moment she escaped Franklin for the first time. It was amazing," I tell him.

Jumping right into the story as we all make our way back to the mansion, everyone listens in quiet fascination and the more I get out, the more powerful, proud, strong I feel. I know there is still so much to her story that I'm missing, but I know without a shadow of a doubt, Elementra told her or showed her everything to expect. And she owned it. She was an absolute badass. And…

She chose me.

She knew what was to come from Franklin and she chose me.

"Sounds like the dragon's egg didn't roll far from the nest, sweetness. You're a badass too," Draken says cheerfully, completely happy and supportive on my behalf.

"The sigil you described is the Mark of a Nexus. It's long since died out, many, many centuries ago. Many believed with the rapid decline in true Primaries, the meaning behind the mark faded as well because it would no longer stick to the skin. It hasn't been seen in at least a millennium. Maybe it has something to do with bloodline rather than the Nexus itself," San comments as we all take a seat around the table on the patio.

"Well, should I try it? If my mom can do it, surely I can, right?" I ask the table timidly.

There's a tense quietness and my men's displeasure at the thought of me cutting myself is palpable, but they don't immediately shout out no. I see no harm in it. The worst that will happen is it hurts, and we have a healer here who can fix that right up.

"Go on, Primary," Caspian commands.

Excitement and nervousness thrum through my veins as I hop out of my seat, everyone following suit, and I move out to the grass in the back lawn. I have no clue what I'll do if this does work, but it's worth a shot. We need any and all the help we can get right now.

Kneeling, I partially shift my finger into a claw and close my eyes for a moment to ground myself, thinking about exactly how my mother felt in that moment, what she said, her precise cuts and movements. I try my best to imitate everything.

A hiss falls from my lips as my sharp claw easily tears through my skin, and I sense the guys take a step closer to me, but I don't break my concentration. Carefully and methodically, I craft the same exact design, sigil, that my mother did, and once I finish all five, I lay my hand to the ground.

My blood pours out over the ground, highlighting the green tips of grass red as I say aloud, "Locus datus ab essentia mei esse. Per tempus et per spatium, libera me in desideratum locum."

When my points meet, for a brief, exhilarating second, small sparks flare to life before they die out, and my blood seeps into the earth. Disappointment floods me as I turn my hand over, watching as my palm knits itself back together like I never even did anything.

"Well, that sucked." I huff, deflating where I sit.

"Nothing about that sucked, princess. Something happened," Corentin reasons, to which I roll my eyes.

Honestly, though, I'm not even sure what I wanted to happen or what was supposed to happen. I can only assume a portal would've opened had it worked like it did for my mom, but maybe that isn't possible for me. Maybe that's only something Elementra allowed since she wanted her back here. Since I'm already here, I have no reason to leave.

"Gaster, San, do either of you know the meanings of the words I'm saying? It's Elema Lingua Vetus , but I don't know if it was just words I wasn't taught or if it's something Elementra's removed from the vocabulary."

"Something removed. I've never heard or read an incantation like that," San immediately answers.

"I agree. So that must mean it has no meaning anymore. Elementra must have wanted to show you what transpired with your mother and that was a part of it," Gaster says tenderly, no doubt sensing the ever-rising disappointment.

Continuing to stare into his baby blues, I remember what I learned this morning from Franklin and my eyes mist. The sweet, grandfatherly look he's giving me warms every part of my soul because it's so genuine. He has no clue that centuries before I was born, he was trying to take care of me, protect me.

"Thank you, Gaster." I whisper.

"For what, child?"

"For being you," I say with a watery smile. I don't know when or if I'll tell him what I know. I don't know if the answer will please him or upset him, so one day, I'll tell him I know the truth and it'll be up to him if he wants me to share or not.

"Oh, you don't need to thank me for that, Willow. I'm marvelous, so why wouldn't I share that with you all? Now, let's get busy working on your new gift, shall we? I'd also like to practice our mind connection. I just know we will have one. I won't accept anything else," he says smiling, reaching his hand out to pull me up.

Snorting, shaking my head, I slide my hand into his warm palm and allow him to pull me up. "I have no doubt we do, Gaster."