Chapter 18

Maura opened her eyes to a chorus of chirping. Her head ached, and her eyes were crusty with tears. Still asleep, Aiden’s arms were wound tightly around her waist. She felt his measured breathing, saw his eyelashes fringe swollen lids. The stranger was her friend.

The morning air was fresh, the sky brushed with light. Loosely wrapped by soft branches, Maura felt rested and oddly at peace. A mama bird and her babies in a nest below were the source of all the racket. She peered down to watch the mother stuff bits of worms into hungry mouths, then fly off, only to return. Maura’s belly groaned. It had been a long time since the supper prepared for her in Lilith’s home.

A raven soared to the end of the branch where they rested and veered so near that Maura squealed and Aiden woke up, startled. The bird took flight, back into the sky and out of sight. A loaf of bread sat on Aiden’s lap.

“What? First the tree, and now the birds take care of you?” she asked.

Aiden rubbed his eyes and stretched against the tree trunk. His hair stuck out in shoots here and there, and his stomach rumbled at the sight of the bread. He tore the loaf in two and handed her one piece. Did he feel as awkward as she did? He’d been her best friend and staunchest opponent as a child. That didn’t mean she knew him now.

Aiden stuffed a large chunk of bread into his mouth and chewed. He swallowed, wiped his mouth, and stifled a smile. “Extraordinary circumstances.” He took another bite, then added, “And we do need breakfast.”

The bread was warm. She held it to her nose and took a small bite. Nutty goodness filled her mouth. She took another bite, then another until her half was gone and she remembered a question she hadn’t asked the night before.

“Who took care of you when you made it to Sanctuary? You were only a boy.”

“Nona caught me stealing tomatoes from her garden.” He yawned and wiped his hands on his pants. “She grabbed me by the ear and demanded to talk to my parents. I…couldn’t speak. For almost a year. Don’t know why she took me in, but she did. When my voice came back, she listened. And understood. She’s Magi, after all.”

“I haven’t heard about Magi since I was a child. Benjamin told me a little, but I thought they were from the past. Legends, you know.”

Aiden shrugged and tore off a piece of bread. “Not so much. They’re all over Sanctuary. In the tenements, anyway.”

“The people from the east who came for refuge? Stuck in poverty? You mean the people in the tenements are Magi? All of them?”

Aiden nodded.

“What have they done to deserve such treatment?” She studied welts of scarlet burns on his hands and arms. “What about the factory fire? The children. We both saw someone right before the fire. Who would’ve done something like that? And why?”

Aiden scanned the landscape below. “Remember all the kids at the chateau? With only a few adults? Your parents were protecting Magi children. Many of their parents had been killed, targeted by Gad El Glas.”

“Gad El what?” Even as she said the word, she remembered. “A little girl sang in the forest outside the city. Something like, Shine bright, O star of the morning…”

“Through me, your bonny lass. For you have come among us, our dear Gad El Glas,” said Aiden, finishing the lyric. “Children learn that song from an early age. It’s supposed to teach them that Sanctuary is a safe place.” He picked a pinecone from a branch and studied it. “It isn’t. Not for Magi. Gad El Glas is a demon that has despised and preyed upon Magi for generations. The political system it operates under changes, but not the source of its evil. Lilith is its emissary. She was the one responsible for the fire.”

Maura recalled the cloaked figure and flash of green. It had been Lilith she’d seen near the factory. “She offered me power. Right before…I had no idea what she was talking about. I refused. That’s when she and the serpent became one and twirled around until a tempest filled the room.” She thought for a minute. “I think that was what happened. It seemed like a dream.”

“If she offered you power, it was stolen. Or illegal in some way. I didn’t know how she’d present herself,” said Aiden. “She changes her appearance, although the demon has existed for centuries. I’m not surprised that she and the serpent became one. She was trained to rule in its power. No one knows how, but she submitted in some way. Either through fear or lust for dominion. Maybe both.”

Aiden took another bite of bread.

Maura saw her friend with new eyes. And began to understand why, even now, he wasn’t quick to speak. Unable to talk for a full year? It tore her gut even to imagine the kind of terror that had stolen a child’s voice. Thank God for Nona. Lilith, on the other hand, seemed fearless. What had shaped her as a child?

“It’s hard to believe Lilith has ever been afraid,” she said. “Except when I called on the authority of the scroll. Like Papa did when we played hide and seek.”

Now she understood why she and Paddy had been so good at hiding. Her parents had protected them from unexpected raids with a game. Until, for whatever reason, they couldn’t shield them any longer. The scroll dangled from Aiden’s shoulder.

“I still don’t know how you found my scroll.” she said.

“I sensed its presence.”

“Did you ever have one of your own?”

Aiden seemed interested in a tiny beetle that crawled in and around the branches. It sure took patience to talk to this man. Patience she was glad Nona had, even years ago. Finally, he shifted long legs over the wide branch and spoke again. “My scroll is at the chateau. I’d been studying it with your father the day of the attack. I was too scared to go back for it.”

If his body hadn’t been so close, she wouldn’t have seen a small tremor in his limbs. “You were so young… How could you have gone back?”

When he didn’t answer she shifted gears. “I had a dream about a scroll one night.”

She’d mostly meant to make conversation, to move them away from his painful memories. But Aiden sat up and turned to her. “Tell me.”

She wasn’t sure where to begin, but she started talking and hoped it made sense. “The scroll and I were pursued by horsemen,” she began. “We became one and shone like a spotlight in the darkness. The enemy saw the light and captured us both.”

Aiden stared at a spider ambling across its web along spindly twigs. “Do you know what your dream meant?”

“No.” Maura immediately felt defensive. “I mean. No.”

Aiden peered at her with those intense blue eyes. “You’re the one who had the dream. You’re the one to understand what it means.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

He stretched out his arms as if his lanky body had suddenly noticed it was perched on a tree limb. “You could ask for help.”

Maura folded her arms and harrumphed. “I just did. I asked you.”

Aiden remained unflappable. As usual. “Better to ask the Giver of dreams Himself.”

Papa’s quiet words as he said good-bye. “The One who set the stars in place and keeps our lives bundled into His,” she said, repeating the phrase that comforted her at night when she couldn’t sleep. Maybe Papa had said it many times and she hadn’t noticed until that night. Besides, she knew the words. She didn’t know the One.

“So, what is the scroll, anyway? I mean, Benjamin read from it. He taught me some of its principles. Like, you know—love never fails or whatever.”

“It’s like a carriage pulled by the strongest of horses, taking you where you need to go. Faster than on foot, and certainly faster than our own strength and devices.”

“A carriage of truth. And wisdom. I like it. Except, we—the scroll and I—were captured by the ones who pursued us. Our light became so bright that the enemy used it to seize us.” Maura adjusted her behind against the trunk. The gown she’d chosen for her meeting with Tobias bunched in uncomfortable places, and its delicate fabric didn’t protect her from the tree’s spiny needles. She resettled herself and glared at Aiden, who seemed to think her predicament was amusing.

What was behind those eyes the color of a summer sky? In her heart, she knew she’d been spoiled and protected by parents who adored her. She was sure they’d done their best to keep her childhood free from the fears they had borne for her and the other children. After all, hiding from the enemy had meant a game of hide and seek. But why was she the only one sent away into the night?

Glimpses of a hurried exit, whispered good-byes, and gut-wrenching heartache had become images she wasn’t sure were real. Except for one other. Hurried packing amid worried glances. They’d been preparing to leave. In a moment she understood what her child’s heart hadn’t grasped. Her breathing quickened into shallow puffs. The pine needles kept stabbing her as a reminder there was no relief anywhere. Because after all these years, she knew.

“The attack came because Lilith saw me that morning.” Her voice choked. “I caused the death of my parents. Of them all.”

“You were only a child. You couldn’t have known.” Aiden reached for her hand, but she yanked it away.

“We had to leave because Lilith saw me.”

Aiden’s ruddy forehead crinkled with deep grooves that belied his youth. He shifted his weight beside her. Was he drawing closer or farther away? Suddenly, he bolted upright.

“What?” she asked.

“It’s the interpretation of your dream. I should’ve known. You and the scroll become one. Light always conquers darkness, Maura. Maybe what you saw as capture was an opportunity to defeat your adversary.”

She took a deep breath and let it out in one trembling puff. She knew what they had to do. Something she’d longed for since the night she’d left with Benjamin. “We have to go back. Back to the chateau.”

Gentle Aiden’s response was strangely brusque. “No.”

“Benjamin may be there. And there are clues we need. Do you remember where it is?”

Aiden’s eyes flitted around is if he were searching for some kind of escape. “We can’t leave. You’ll lose your protection against Sir Taylor.”

Maura rolled her eyes and lifted her hands as if in surrender. “I’ve already lost it by leaving Sanctuary. You know that. Not only that, but we were also chased out of my host home by a demon. Another generation of Magi children is threatened. We can help them if… We can find your scroll. And you can teach me how to use mine.”

Aiden sighed. “I can’t.”

“Okay. I’ll go myself.”

“Right. Be an idiot.”

“We have to go back,” Maura shouted. She lowered her voice to a grumble when she realized she could be heard by someone other than Aiden. “You are so stubborn.”

As soon as she spit out her frustration, she regretted it. She’d been so dense. Of course, Aiden was afraid. She’d covered her own fear with anger and temper tantrums. But Benjamin had whisked her away that night. She hadn’t heard marauding soldiers or the cries of loved ones as they lay dying.

She’d watched Aiden face down Sir Taylor, pull children out of a raging fire, and stop a demon intent on destroying her. And yet, Paddy, the child, was still ravaged by memories of what had happened one terrible night.

He lifted his head and spoke into his hands as if they held the terror a child had known. As if he wondered what to do with pain so deep it seemed bottomless. “I don’t remember much,” he said. “The nightmares stopped a few years ago. And I can talk again. Obviously,” he said, with a wry smile.

“I’m sorry.” Maura fumbled with her words, ashamed. “I…fly into action. And don’t think.”

He didn’t rush to receive her apology. Instead, he peered into the sky at some unknown target in its expanse. “The bodies. There wasn’t a burial.”

Maura’s stomach lurched. She grabbed onto a branch as a wave of dizziness washed over her. The ones they loved ravaged by wild beasts, decomposing without the honor of even earth over their remains. There was nothing to say. She touched Aiden’s arm. When he didn’t flinch or turn away, she reached for him with first one arm, then the other. “Hold me.”

Suddenly, his breath was against her neck, his embrace tightened and drew her close. They stayed wrapped in a bundle as the sunshine of a new day grew warm and the forest teemed with squirrels jumping from tree to tree and birds trilling with happy abandon. Maura didn’t speak. She had nothing left to cajole Aiden, to try to convince him to do what she wanted to do. She rested in his arms and waited.

“The adults were caught off guard for the first time.” Aiden’s voice was muffled by her hair. “We’d had raids before, but never like this one. Your father had trained me with the scroll. Maybe I could’ve…”

She held him tighter. The warmth of his skin and strength of his arms enfolded her. She’d loved him as a child. His confidence, the way he threw open his arms and crowed at the joy of being alive. How he’d irritated her—because he knew her. Now, his embrace stirred a heat in her body, and she didn’t want to let go. Only draw closer. She buried her head against his heart. In a moment suspended in time, he brushed her forehead with his lips. Then her cheeks.

When his lips reached for hers, Maura straightened up so fast that she hit him in the nose.

He rubbed it with one hand and smoothed his tunic with the other as she scooted to another branch. She tried to speak, but her voice cracked. She cleared it and tried again, on a mission to hold back yet another tsunami. For now.

“My life has been filled with questions since that night,” she said, her voice quivering. It was too late to hold anything back. “What if retrieving your scroll matters? And that we met again in Sanctuary. Nothing else makes sense. Except for who we were. And are. Together.”

Maura leaned back against the trunk. Close, but not too close to the fire she’d felt between them. “This is part of my dream about the scroll, too. Our enemy pursues us to a place of light. A place that will help show us where to go from there.”

The day had only begun, but a decision had to be made.

Aiden spoke into the space between them. “What kind of quest would take us back to such pain?”

Maura thought for a moment. Maybe that would become a habit someday. “One to prevent the pain of others. If we can.”

Aiden’s gaze searched the terrain below. She watched as emotion drained out of his countenance. His words were terse. “We need to leave now.”