Chapter 22

"How do you know my name?" Monty drifted closer to the end of the porch, and I hopped off to stand next to the strange older women.

"I have known your name since you drew breath." She pressed her hand to her chest. "I am Padonya."

Yeah, this isn't weird at all. I cleared my throat. "Um, have we met before?"

"No." She smirked and motioned toward the door. "Please enter."

I held my hand out toward Monty, and he leapt out of the water and shrank back down to his tiny pocket-size before he landed in my palm. I placed him on my shoulder, and he wound himself around the back of my neck. The demons that'd been standing in the river all drifted to stand in front of the hut. They remained silent but staring. It was hard for me to reconcile Tendreece and Lizvita with these demons. Those two somehow didn't belong here among the stillness.

Those glowing butterflies all seemed to huddle overhead and lingered around the hut. I turned toward the door and gently pushed it open. The door creaked and when I stepped inside, the sound of water lapping at the stilts beneath the hut filled the air. It was even more humid inside and darkness made it almost impossible to see. As if reading my mind, the butterflies that'd been hovering outside all fluttered into the room, brightening it with those neon glowing wings. Hues of blues and purples filled the room, and for a moment I was mesmerized by their beauty and the way the lights seemed to linger in the air just a few seconds after each of their movements.

The room itself was very small, with a rickety table and single chair to one side. There were shelves on the other wall, and again those tiny wooden cages hung from the ceiling with all kinds of creatures in them. Some had bandages around their limbs while others looked like they were being nursed back to health. At the back of the room was a giant shadow that looked like a statue. I took a step closer and froze.

"Holy shit." My eyes widened, and I stepped back.

"I'm impressed with the likeness myself." She moved to stand before the statue.

"But . . . but it's me." There I was—carved into stone and sitting in this building that looked like it was about to fall into the swamp.

The stone was light and smooth and captured me perfectly after I'd turned completely demon. The statue depicted me with my hands in front of me with my palms up and flower petals gathered in both of them. They even got my pointed ears peeking through my long wild hair. I sucked in a sharp breath and blew it out.

"How is this possible?" It was freaky to see a statue of myself.

She hobbled over to the chair and eased her way down with a groan. "Fifty years ago, I began my journey of contemplation and prayer, becoming a follower of Abba."

"I remember her from before. She helped us save Terrea with the sacrifice." Memories of Abba with her long purple hair and bright eyes filled my mind. She was beautiful and statuesque, with a commanding presence.

"We commune often. She told me you were coming and to take hope for Isramorta."

"No pressure," I muttered.

"You took a great deal on your shoulders fifty years ago, and for that the world should thank you." She sighed. "But the world will always need the eight. The lands are in turmoil, unsettled. Now that you have returned, there can be hope."

"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do to help." I began to pace back and forth. "Or even what I really am . . . what clan I belong to."

"You are all clans." Her voice was so smooth, so calm.

I felt anything but calm.

"That doesn't make any sense?"

Padonya rose to her feet and moved closer to my statue. She held her hand up and blue glittering magic flowed from her hand and landed over me. A moment later it rose off my skin, taking every drop of water from my clothing, skin, and hair. The drops hung in the air.

"There have always been five elements in the world. Fire." Some of the water gathered into a small bubble, and it turned a bright, glowing red.

"Water." More of the water gathered together and she made a glowing blue ball.

"Earth." She did it again. This time the bubble glowed green.

"Air." The ball of water glowed a bright white. She made them hover with each other in a circle. "They all revolve in a delicate balance. Without one, there cannot be the others. You are the one who can unite them all."

A chill went down my spine and my stomach tightened. "What do you mean?"

"Spirit." She formed one more ball of water and made it glow bright-purple. She made the ball float into the middle of the others. "The one element to unite the others."

I paused, looking at the glowing orbs as she made the four elements revolve around spirit the way the planets revolved around the sun. "I haven't united anything though."

"The powers flow around you." She made them spin faster. "Or . . . through you."

She transformed the four other elements into long strings of water that flowed through the middle of the ball representing the elements. I shook my head. "I don't even know what all this means."

"It means you are the key to our freedom, to be united once more, for us to regain the family we all lost." She turned toward me. "You are the spirit by which things flow, Morgana. It's why none of our powers can hurt you, and why the land responds to you . . . why your ferinx chose you."

I took a step back and shook my head back. "Fifty years ago—"

"—Fifty years ago your sacrifice allowed your magic to join with others to become strong enough to stop Valandril and restore the tree. Thus, you saved us all. But this is not fifty years ago, and you are needed once more." She grabbed my hands in hers. "You have returned, and we will rejoice in this."

"But I haven't done anything yet. The demons all need help, and I want to help." It was true. I wanted to do all I could to unite them and give them better lives. I wasn't saving one life at a time through social work. I would save them all. "But I don't know how."

She dropped my hands and took a step back. "Abba knows all."

"I don't even know what that means."

"Every year the tides come in and out, sometimes higher than others—sometimes unexpectedly, and when the water comes calling it will claim all in its path. But the dream to feel firm earth underfoot once more fills my every waking hour, as it does for many here. Questions of how to exist will always arise. Similar to the questions you have now." She turned and dropped back down into the chair as though her bones ached with each of her movements.

I turned toward the statue that looked too much like me. "And what do you do in those times?"

"The same things you must do to find the answers you are looking for."

I glanced back at her. "Which is?"

"Rest, contemplate . . . and pray."

"Pray?" I sighed. "Not all prayers go answered."

She smirked. "And not all people reincarnate fifty years later, and yet here we are."

"Fair point." She was a wise old woman who clearly knew more about me than I knew about myself at this point. It was hard to believe that I was the spirit meant to link them all. I didn't know how I was supposed to accomplish this. But there was one thing I was good at, and it was taking care of people. The moment my memories returned, so did the knowledge that these were now my people to take care of, and I would do whatever it took to free them from the lives they'd been trapped in against their will. I had no clue what the fuck the answer was to that, but something in my gut told me I would have to do something soon. Dacio couldn't remain king and Isramorta couldn't remain like this. But how?

"So, rest and pray?"

She gave me a single nod. "Abba awaits."

"How do you know?"

Padonya rose to her feet and stiffly walked to the door. "Because I'm old as shit and I know things the young do not. We're all granted a thousand years here, and I'm in my nine hundredth and something. I've seen men rise and fall. I've seen tragedy. I've seen love. I've seen hate. I've seen bonds strengthen and break. And I've seen what awaits. Pray."

"Right . . . yes . . . pray."

The weight of the entire demon world rested on a lone prayer . . .