Chapter Eight

We made it to a cozy apartment in the center of the city. She told me the dark realm had many empty apartments for when witches came back to visit or to live in for longer periods of time. The apartment was extremely modern, if not futuristic, with only the bare necessities. My head pounded with a headache from information overload, but my body was warm. The dark realm accepted me, and now, I accepted me. Lucy said she was relieved, because she wasn’t sure the magic would let up.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked her. I already knew the answer but wanted to hear her say it.

“It’s a secret that’s guarded at all costs. I told you, because you’re here, because you’re my friend, and because you’ve been lied to for too long.” Her brown, almond-shaped eyes were downcast. I had a million questions for her and Blythe. The main question that banged into the forefront of all the others was about Malakai. He was born dark. Now, I wondered if dark magic was even as awful and malevolent as they told me before. A pang of angst ripped through me with the thought of Malakai and how much I missed him.

“Blythe should be the one to fill in the holes,” Lucy said, breaking me out of my self-pity party. We sat at opposite sides of a chrome table. I pulled my cell phone out of my jacket pocket to see its status. I doubted it would work but felt a desperate need to talk to Malakai.

“I called Kellan and told him we were here. He should be here, soon. He’s going to take you to see Blythe.” I was uneasy and still in shock, so hanging with Kellan was the last thing I wanted.

“Where are you going?” I asked too loudly. Lucy looked at me with concern and fidgeted with her hands before she offered me one hand, which I accepted right away.

“I’m back home…remember? I’m going to visit my parents,” she said. I gasped. They know their parents. It was too much, all of it. I broke free of her grip, put my head down on my arms, and sobbed. I sobbed for me and for all the Bruxas who didn’t know their parents growing up. I cried for the lies that spilled into reality, for the life I could have had. Lucy walked around the table and stroked my hair. I should have known Lucy was never evil and cruel. None of the dark witches I met had been. The Bruxas were the ones who had the Patrol to hunt down wayward Bruxas. They almost killed me, once. I gulped hard as hot tears continued to fall down my cheeks.

I was relieved when I looked in the bathroom mirror and actually saw me for the first time. Red ringed my eyes, but my mind was finally being fed the truth. When I opened the door to the living room, my heart leapt out of my chest. Kai was walking through the door. Then, Lucy threw herself into his arms, and my heart shattered. It was Kellan. I shut my eyes hard and let them pop open again, hoping my mind would fix the mistake. I wanted them to recognize him as the twin and not Malakai, but they couldn’t tell the difference…neither could my heart. Kellan offered a sweet peck on Lucy’s cheek and then approached me cautiously.

“It’s a little easier to like me, now?” he asked with Malakai’s grin on his face. “I’m relieved that is finally out the way.” What he did next was so unlike Kellan that I questioned if it wasn’t Malakai. He hugged me gently, as if I might break. I shut my eyes and let my arms wrap around him. My heart beat at the fast, hurried pace that always accompanied Kai’s presence, but my head screamed obscenities at me. He pulled away.

“I’m more like Malakai than you know,” he muttered then winked and returned to Lucy, who wore a mask of consternation. After a hushed conversation, Lucy came to bid her farewells. She looked sad and scared, but Kellan’s hopefulness was contagious. He kissed her goodbye and then led me out the door.

“I need Malakai. Can you get him a message? Do you know if he’s okay in Cadiza?” I blasted questions at Kellan the second we were alone. I had a new set of worries. What if Jade found out about Malakai? She’d kill him.

“Malakai has always been okay in Cadiza. Nothing changed now that you know the truth. I can get him a message,” he said confidently. He led me through a large, dark garden that morphed into a building when we crossed an invisible threshold. It was dizzying. I assumed it took a lot of getting used to before you could live in the dark realm comfortably.

“I just feel so duped. Look at this.” I motioned to the huge world surrounding me that I never would have known existed had I not dug a little deeper, had I not been different from the other Bruxas. It was unnerving to think they would all live in the dark, unknowing of the reality that would change everything for them. I wanted to tell them, but then again, I didn’t. How easy it was for them to take everything taught in Cadiza for face value. We walked through a door inside a building, and it morphed into the front door of a large house.

Kellan knocked on the door a few times, rang the doorbell, and then stepped back to wait. I peeked up at his face—so stony and hard to read, like Malakai’s—and I saw him in a different light. He was beautiful, yes, but he was also brave. He chose to stand firmly in both worlds. Kellan stood against Jade, because he felt it was wrong how she treated Bruxas. He was right―he had always been right. He just hid his wisdom with booze. I shook my head imperceptibly as I concluded my case study.

I was surprised when Blythe answered the door. Kellan had taken me directly to her, which astounded me. There weren’t any middlemen or funny side business. Given what I knew now and what I continued to discern, it shouldn’t have surprised me.

“Samantha Scott…” Blythe intoned in her gruff, raspy voice, “and her escort.” She smiled politely at Kellan and ushered us into her oversized home. It was grandiose if nothing else, but it also had components of comfortable leisure. I suspected she spent the majority of her time there. The house was light. Not that she had light paint shades and cherubs sitting on shelves, but it held a large amount of natural light. Given the dreary, black atmosphere we traveled through outside, I knew magic was in play. There were no photos or any other belongings that gave me a sense of who lived there. If the person who lived there was any indication, I knew she let her being speak for itself and saw no need for possessions that screamed Blythe. Kellan walked next to me in comfortable silence as we followed her into a sitting room. Everything about Kellan screamed Malakai. Having him there and actually sober put me at ease.

“Come and sit,” Blythe ordered as she pointed to a plush, caramel-colored chair. I did as instructed and became uneasy when Kellan disappeared. She sensed my apprehension.

“He keeps you calm?” she asked. I stuttered before I spoke only because I couldn’t believe she made that assumption.

“No, of course not. He’s just familiar. That’s all,” I said, my voice terse. Surely, she understood what I meant as I was in love with his twin brother. I didn’t admit that if I looked at Kellan from my peripheral vision, I could believe it was Kai.

“Of course.” Her lips twitched. I noticed for the first time that Blythe wore no makeup. Her face was bare of heavy kohl liner and white powder. She looked fresh and much younger without the gunk. Her green eyes were fierce and balanced perfectly by her pink, shapely lips. She was much older than me, but in studying her, I was reminded of me. She pulled her long, black hair back into a ponytail as if sensing I was scrutinizing her appearance and waited for me to speak.

“Is it true?” I asked. It came out like a whisper. She took a seat in front of me. For the first time since I met the dark witch who ruled all dark witches, I didn’t fear her. She met me at eye level and had the good sense to look embarrassed.

“It depends on what exactly they’ve told you,” she said in the most humble voice she could muster.

“I’m like you, aren’t I?” I held my breath and waited. I watched her face dance between indecision and honor. She didn’t owe me anything, I knew that, but in those seconds before she answered, I knew she thought me worthy of an explanation. The wrinkles around her eyes crinkled when she smiled.

“You aren’t exactly like me…yet, but yes. You were born with dark magic in you,” she said. I swallowed hard and shut my eyes.

“It’s why I’m different. It’s why I’ve felt off my whole life. It’s why I’m undefined as a Bruxa. Isn’t it?” I spluttered. I needed answers. These answers would define me. Would they define all Bruxas that were undefined?

“Your blood is split in half. You could have embraced either magic with success…or both,” she said warily.

“How?” I asked. I knew she understood my question.

“You’ve felt different, because you are different. You were born with one parent of dark-magic descent and one of Bruxa descent. Cadiza covers these things up all the time. They established the matching system to help prevent the magics from mixing. They know very little about how large our population is, because they are so isolated.” She looked to the side and then back to me. She was irritated.

“They don’t care to know. They are happy with their antiquated system and think all their checks and balances with the auditors are enough to keep them safe,” she scoffed.

“They think humans and undefined Bruxas are the only things to be worried about. We aren’t bad. We want to release the Bruxas. We want to free them from their isolated prison.”

I listened to her with a slack jaw and a heart full of denial. It was incomprehensible, but everything she said made perfect sense. When Kellan sauntered into the living room, I realized Blythe had called him in―to break my state of shock or take me back to the real world…or both. Lines of worry etched his face. In that moment, as I looked past Blythe, I forgot it wasn’t Malakai. I ran into his arms and hugged him as tightly as I could. Kellan peeled me back carefully, set me at arm’s length, and watched my face. I probably looked like a patient who escaped a psych ward.

“Is she going to be okay?” Kellan asked Blythe. I saw her though tears flooded my eyes. She looked worried and apprehensive, as if she questioned telling me all she had.

“Yes, I think she’ll be fine eventually,” she said to Kellan before looking at me.

“It’s a lot to process and goes against everything you’ve been taught. I understand that. I’m giving you some time. I have a favor to ask of you. I need your help with something very important, Sam,” It registered that she called me my nickname for the first time. It was awkward but didn’t sound odd coming out of her mouth. I wanted to hear her say it, again.

“I won’t burden you with anything more right now. Kellan will take you back home, to your real home in San Francisco. Live as normal a life as you wish. That’s all we want for our people.” She bit her lip.

“It’s all I want for the Bruxas, too. Please, return in two weeks. We’re having a masquerade ball. It’ll be ravishing fun. You can give me your decision, then. I’ll explain what I need your help with at that time,” she said. I gained my wits and responded through small sobs.

“I’ll think about it. I need time to process everything. I want to see Jade, Madison, and Daniel before I leave. I don’t want to be on the run. I don’t want Kai in danger. I know the curse is lessening, and I know the Elders are suspicious of me. If they don’t know already, they will soon that I’m the one responsible for Jade’s disappearance.” I had an idea and decided to act on it.

“I do want you to do one thing for me as a show of good faith,” I said. She knew about the trust issues I had in the past with my friends. She knew they betrayed me to Jade. If she wanted me to even consider helping her with anything, she needed to do what I asked.

“What is it?” she asked as she raised her eyebrows.

“I want you to keep my friends safe. I don’t want anything to happen to them at the hands of the Elders or any Bruxa. Promise me you will keep them safe, and I’ll consider helping you.” Issuing my own condition gave me the illusion of some control. I needed it to feel like I was my own person. Jade wanted me for my dream casting. She wanted to use my Bruxa skills to her benefit. Blythe hadn’t yet said what she needed from me, but she also wanted me to do something for her. I felt like a used-up paper bag. Knowing the new tidbits of information about me validated me. It coincided with how I felt my entire life. The dark magic was always inside trying to get out. It wanted freedom, too.

“You have my word. Your friends will remain safe, but there’s something you should know.”

“Okay, what?” Nothing could be worse than the things I just found out. They made me immune to anything else she could possibly tell me.

“Jade, Madison, and Daniel were set free from your curse this morning. They are back in Cadiza.” My heart sank. They weren’t there. Part of me was joyous I wouldn’t have to face my former best friends, but the other part was angry I wouldn’t get my showdown with Jade. I wouldn’t get to tell her to leave me alone, that I knew the truth, and that all the lies she told everyone were unforgivable. I moved past my sad despondency and pitched straight to anger. I was livid. I wanted revenge for everything and everyone the Elders hurt.

“We should go,” Kellan said to me. “If we stay much longer, we’ll have to wait another day to go through the portal.” His speech was off, and I picked up on his slurred words. He’d been drinking, again.

“I need a drink first,” I said as eloquently as possible through sniffles. He raised one eyebrow and gave me a crooked smile as I walked over to the drink cart and poured a large brandy. I downed it in a large gulp and turned to face Blythe.

“I’ll see you in two weeks.” I waved and fell in step behind Kellan. I knew why he drank and could commiserate with his plight. When you dealt with that much bullshit on a daily basis, you were bound to need a drink to cope with it. I was only vaguely aware of a door in the far back of Blythe’s home that popped open. It was a library, and the best part was that I knew where it was. I felt the golden booze warm my stomach. I smiled like an insane person.

“Take me back to Kansas, Toto,” I muttered, much too quietly for anyone to hear.