Gregory

Greg took a deep breath to keep himself composed. His body was tense, and his jaw was sore from forcing himself to keep a straight face. All those months ago, when he had first been called to meet with the council, he’d been so nervous. He’d thought he had been given a great honour. The second time he’d been in this room, he had been so proud of himself. He had brought them the keeper of the Heart Crystal and finally achieved something significant. However, right now, as he stood listening to the council, he felt no pride. He was not nervous. He was annoyed. He stood with his hands behind his back so no one could see his clenched fists. It was all he could do to keep his annoyance from showing.

“How could you come back here without her?” asked Lord Ping.

Lord Ping was the leader of the fairies, and he was not the first person to ask that question. Greg had already explained what happened, but they didn’t seem to be getting it.

“As I have already said, she refused to come,” Greg replied.

“You should have made her come,” Lord Ping snapped.

“Please, tell me, how I am meant to get a teleporter to go somewhere against their will?”

“You could have overpowered her.”

“There isn’t anyone in this room that could overpower her. Is that not the reason you want her here to begin with?”

Lord Ping curled his mouth and lowered his brow. “Do not forget who you are addressing, boy.”

Greg gritted his teeth. He hadn’t forgotten who he was talking to. He just couldn’t believe that the people that were meant to be leading the world of magic were being so petty. They were scared, which was understandable—they would be stupid not to be—but going over why Mellissa hadn’t returned with him was a waste of time. This was time they should be spending coming up with a plan to stop Kadon.

“We should send someone else to go collect the girl,” suggested Chancellor Den. “We entrusted too much responsibility to someone so young.”

“It doesn’t matter who you send; she won’t come,” Greg said. “She needs time to get over what’s happened to her friend. She will come around. Mellissa won’t let Kadon destroy the world.”

“This is a council matter, and we did not ask your opinion,” snapped Ping.

“I believe your judgement is impaired, Gregory,” Den said.

“I am thinking very clearly, thank you.”

“You are too emotionally involved,” Den said. “You overstepped in the position you were given. You have blurred the line between colleagues and friends, which never ends well. We cannot trust your opinion on the matter any longer.”

Lady Gabrielle put her hand up, and the two fairies stopped talking. Everyone at the table turned to look at her. “Gregory’s opinion is the only one that matters. He is the only one of us that actually knows the girl. If we want her on our side, we must act with compassion and be considerate of what she is feeling right now. Trying to force her here will only push her further away.”

Lord Ping frowned but didn’t say anything. Den put his finger to his mouth. “Perhaps you are right. The girl is a teleporter, after all. We wouldn’t be able to make her stay even if we somehow managed to get her here.”

Greg wanted to shout but held his tongue. That was exactly what he’d said. Why did it take Lady Gabrielle saying it for them to finally get it?

“Are you certain Mellissa will return in time?” Lady Gabrielle asked.

“She will be here when we need her,” Greg replied.

“Thank you, Gregory. You are dismissed.”

Greg bowed and left the room. That had been the biggest waste of four hours. He understood their initial shock of him returning alone, but the meeting shouldn’t have taken that long. He’d repeated himself so many times he had lost count. Although, his father had been uncommonly quiet. He had expected him to question him along the same lines as Lord Ping, yet he’d hardly said a word.

Greg went to the tearooms. He got himself a drink and sat at a table. There wasn’t much else he could do right now. This was a council matter, after all, and his opinion wasn’t wanted. He wasn’t sure if he would be staying here or if he would be sent back to Novosvillas. He hoped to just be sent home. He’d had enough of the council, and he hadn’t been properly home in a long time. It was overdue. That decision would ultimately be up to his father, but did he have to listen? He was an adult.

He didn’t have to listen to any of them. Greg stirred his drink. Yet, that was exactly what he had done, and by doing so, he had messed up big-time. If he hadn’t done everything the way the council wanted, maybe Mellissa wouldn’t have gotten to the Tree of Time too late. He should have listened when she said she didn’t want to meet with them. After spending four hours going around in circles, he could understand why Mellissa had freaked out when she first met them. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t realised how pushy they all were before. They acted like children when things didn’t go the way they wanted.

Greg jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Is it all right if I join you?” his father asked.

“Of course,” Greg said. “Has the council come to a decision, then?”

Steffen walked round the table and sat down. “Yes, it has.”

“Will we be returning home?”

“No. Novosvillas is to be evacuated. All of our soldiers have been called to the capital, so there will be no one left to protect the city. Our people will go to one of the other two changeling cities. The fairy and warlock armies will also be making their way here.”

“Is it really a good idea for us all to gather in one place?”

“Kadon is too strong. We must throw everything we have at him if we wish to stand a chance against him. Which means combining all our armies here.”

Greg looked down at the table. He really hoped this conversation wasn’t about to take the turn he thought it was. “And what would you have me do?”

“Nothing. I just want to spend some time with my son. I have hardly seen you over the past few months.” His father gave him a weary smile. “I will get you another drink and one of those cream cakes you like.”

Steffen got up and walked over to the counter. Greg leant on his arm. Something was wrong. His father didn’t seem like himself. Maybe being on the cusp of a war was getting to him. It took the world falling into chaos for his father to want to spend time with him. Steffen returned with a tray of drinks. He sat down and placed a slice of cake in front of Greg.

“When you were little, whenever I brought you here, that cake was all you would eat.”

“That’s only because you let me get away with it. Anna was very strict about letting me eat sweet things.”

“Yes, my assistant probably looked after you more than she should have. It was never meant to be part of her job. I should have been around more.”

“I have no complaints about my childhood. I always had everything I needed. There is no need to feel bad.”

“Hard times are coming. I am allowed to wish I had been around more when you were growing up. I realise I have spent most of my time pushing you, but I don’t think I have ever told you how proud I am of you.”

Greg’s jaw dropped. “You are?”

“Of course I am. I’m sorry that I didn’t make that clear to you. You have achieved so much at such a young age. I just wanted to push you to be the best you could be, but I realise that maybe I didn’t go about it in the best way. I pushed you away instead of taking you under my wing.”

Greg tilted his head. “Thank you.” This was surreal. Greg had worked so long to get his father to be proud of him. However, he never expected him to apologise for anything. His father had always been too proud to even consider that he may have been wrong about something.

Steffen leant forward and put his hands together. “Now, about Miss Hail.”

Greg slumped back. It had all been too good to be true. He’d just been buttering him up so he could force his agenda upon him. “Father, there isn’t anything else I can tell you that I haven’t already told the council.”

“That is not what I meant.” Steffen looked at his hands and took a deep breath. He looked back up at Greg. “You are not to blame for what happened with her. I should have listened when you said she wasn’t ready. I pushed you into coming back, and I may have caused a problem for you.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t really belong there anyway.”

“Do you remember that cliffside I used to take you to on your birthday to see the fireworks?” Greg nodded. His birthday was on summer solstice, and there were always festivities. He’d loved it when his dad showed him that spot on the cliff. It was their own private viewing area, and you could see the whole city from up there. “I never did understand why you used to get so excited about it all. When this is all over, I think you should take Miss Hail there. Someone like her will appreciate it a lot more than I ever could.”

Greg looked down at his hands. “I am not exactly on speaking terms with her.”

Mellissa probably would love it there, but he was the last person she would want to go with. He didn’t know how everything had gone so wrong between them. He wasn’t sure how he could fix things—that was, if there was a relationship left to fix. Maybe when it came down to it, they were just too different. They were from different worlds after all.

“I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but you are right—she will come back here. However, I don’t think it will just be because we need her. She will come because of you. When she does return, you shouldn’t hold anything back.” Steffen chuckled to himself. “I will be honest with you, Lady Gabrielle had to point this out to me. I feel so silly for not seeing it myself.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you know. I understand if you don’t want to talk to me about it. I never was around for all that stuff with girls and whatnot.” Steffen got up. “I have a few things to get sorted, but I will see you later. I’ll buy you dinner if I can.”

“That would be nice,” Greg said.

Steffen nodded at him and walked away.

Greg watched as his father left the tearooms. Had that whole conversation really just happened? He turned back and looked at his uneaten cake. He smiled as he picked up a fork.

Then a feeling of dread shot through him. That conversation had been weird, almost like his father was trying to make up for lost time because he didn’t have much left. Was there something he hadn’t told him? Were things worse than the council had let on? Greg shook his head. He couldn’t think like that. He had to believe everything was going to work out. He believed in Mellissa. She may hate him right now, but she wouldn’t let this world plunge into chaos. He was the only one here that had seen Kadon’s power. He was extremely powerful, but it hadn’t been the first time he’d sensed power like that. Mellissa’s power was just as fierce. She would be able to stop him.