Page 49 of Threads of Fate

“I should have told you the resemblance. I should have warned you. I’m sorry S’rella.” Kreed whispers to me. “I haven’t told them.” I try harder to suck in my tears and calm myself. All I want to do right now is fling myself at the woman who looks like my mother. Kreed grabs the urn out of the carriage and that makes calming myself so much harder. Knowing that my mother is in that urn but I can see her face right in front of me. Kreed steps down the carriage steps and holds his hand out for me to grab.

Li-ana and Furden walk towards us. Li-ana stops a few steps from me. Taking in my face with a furrowed brow. Likely making the connection or feeling my mothers magic.

“Kreed. It’s good to see you.” Furden looks at me and gets the same furrow in his brow.

“I’m Li-ana and this is Furden.” She holds her hand out for me to shake I assume. I reach for her hand as Kreed speaks up. Since I can’t stop looking at Li-ana’s face.

“This is Dana…” Kreed takes a deep breath, “Naomi’s daughter.” Li-ana’s eyes widen and she chokes out a laugh. Suddenly I’m being yanked into a tight hug.

“Oh sweet girl. I knew my old eyes weren’t deceiving me. I knew I felt her magic.” She pushes away from me still holding my arms with her hands. “Gods, you look so much like her. You must take after your father though.”

“I– uh, thank you. I need to tell you.” I choke on my words. I reach over and grab the urn from Kreed. Li-ana gets a concerned look on her face and Furden’s face drains of all color. He knows and I haven’t even said anything. “My mom, uh,” I choke back a sob, “Naomi died a couple years ago.”

Li-ana drops to the ground with a heart wrenching sob and Furden stands absolutely still. I don’t think he even knows his wife has collapsed. I hand the urn back to Kreed. I get down on my knees and grab Li-ana. I don’t know how to deal with death but this is the one death I can grieve with her. I sit next to Li-ana and pull her to me. She clutches to me, babbling, praying to gods I do not know. It breaks my heart all over again because this is exactly how I grieved mom. I was a babbling mess, bargaining with a devil who wouldn’t listen to bring her back. I watch Kreed walk over to Furden who is still standing like a statue. Kreed grabs his arm and pulls Furden into a hug. That snaps him out of his state. Furden hugs Kreed back

“I’m sorry I was too late.” Kreeds whispered words ring in my ears like gong.

“It’s not your fault Kreed. I would never put that blame on you.” Furden says. He turns to Li-ana and me. His eyes are red and he looks absolutely devastated. He leans down and grabs his wife's hand. “Come my love. Let’s get inside.” She nods and pushes away from me. I stand up and give her a hand. She nods her thanks.

“Come on sweet thing. I think we have lots to talk about.” Li-ana grabs my hand and pulls me close to her. This woman doesn’t even know me and she’s already treating me like family. I could be a psycho for all she knows. I look back at Kreed, he stifles a laugh at the ‘deer in headlights’ look I know I have to be sporting.

The doors to this house are incredibly tall. They look like solid wood and have intricate carvings in them of the flora and fauna you would find just from standing in the yard. Furden opens the doors with a swish of his hands. Their house has tall ceilings and great huge windows, letting in tons of light. The walls are a pale green stucco and floors are dark wood. Like Kreed’s house there is not a whole lot of decor or show of wealth. Everything is simple. Live edge wooden shelves line the walls with knickknacks and some paintings. There are some paintings that look like they may have been painted by children. We walk into a formal sitting room and there is a full bar to the left. Li-ana walks me over to a loveseat and pulls me down with her. Furden sits in a chair next to Li-ana and Kreed sits next to me in a chair.

“Here you go S’rella.” Kreed hands my mothers urn to me. I pull her into my lap and turn to my grandparents. They are looking between Kreed and I with raised brows.

“S’rella?” Furden says, eyeing Kreed and then me. I look back at Kreed, giving him a confused look. “That’s a hell of a name to give my granddaughter Kreed. You want to explain?” I look between Kreed and my grandfather. What the hell is going on? I look Li-ana and she winks at me.

“That’s a new development, Sir…uh King Furden.” I start giggling at Kreed’s nervous demeanor. I think I’m going to watch him flounder.

“King Furden, huh? Must be serious.” Furden replies. I think he is also getting a kick out of Kreed flailing.

“Dana is my tether. We found–” Furden jumps up with a ‘whoop!’.

“Bless the light! Finally!” Furden roars. “You have waited too long son. I am so happy for you.” He grabs Kreed's shoulders and pulls him in for a hug. Kreed nods his thanks and they both sit back down. Kreed still has a smile on his face but also looks uncomfortable with all eyes on him. Li-ana gives me a hug and kisses my temple.

“He is a great man, Dana. Danalia couldn’t have chosen a better match.” She sits back and eyes the urn in my lap. Everything sobers up immediately. I hand her the urn. With shaky hands she takes it. Holding it with reverence.

“She promised she would be safe. I have prayed to gods every day for her safe return. To see her again.” Li-ana wipes her eyes. “I guess in a way she gave me that, in you,” She looks at me putting her free hand to my cheek. “You really do have her eyes and her mouth. You stand tall and strong as she did.” She looks down at the urn. “How did it happen?” She asks sadly. “It is no easy task to kill a fae.”

“It was a car accident.” Memories of that night assault me. I have a carefully constructed box to put those memories in. To never open them again after everything that happened. It was just easier on me, “She crashed into a ditch when it was raining.”

“That is what I don't understand. It shouldn’t have killed her.” Li-ana’s and Furden’s eyes both snap to Kreed. Unease trickles through my body. Kreed gives me a sad look.

“I’m sorry Dana, I should have explained to you that it makes no sense that your mother died in a car accident. I’m making a mess with you.” He sighs and rubs his brow. “I don’t think that’s how she was killed. I meant to tell you earlier but everything got side tracked and I didn’t want to tell you last week because you were already so heart broken.” He trails off looking guilty as all hell.

“I don’t blame you for forgetting or not wanting to make my shit week even more so. Please do explain though.” I told him, “The police became cagey during the investigation. Eventually, Noah and I hit a stand still and there was nothing else we could do. I threw several fits at the police station after I saw my mothers body. The black marks on her didn’t make any fucking sense. They just said it was all a misunderstanding and wouldn’t let me speak to anyone that responded to the accident first.”

“Can you tell us what happened? Do you remember that day?” Li-ana asks, grabbing my hand and squeezing gently. I breathe out and close my eyes, trying to remember everything that happened that day and the following weeks.

“I got the call on a Thursday night, it was pouring rain. They told me my mother was in an accident and didn’t make it. I remember being stunned, knowing they had to have the wrong number. I thought it was a cruel joke which was par for the course in my life. I hung up and called my mom but her phone went straight to voicemail. I called Noah after and he came over immediately. We tried my moms phone again and again. We called the diner she worked at and they said she left a little earlier than usual. Saying she had a meeting. I had thought that was strange. Then, we went down to the hospital as a last resort. I didn’t want to believe it, this was my mother. The only person I had in my life except for Noah. I couldn’t believe the fates would be that cruel. When they–” I choked on a sob, I opened my eyes when I felt hands pull me up off the couch. Kreed was standing right there, he kissed my hands and pushed me over towards Li-ana more. He sat down next to me on my other side and rubbed my back. I gave him a weak smile and continued. “They needed me to identify her body. When they pulled back the sheet, she…she had these black slashes all over her torso and face. She had them along her arms like she was trying to protect herself.” I took a moment to pull myself together to get the rest of the memory out. “The police told me it was grease and oil. The coroner said he had no idea what it was. When I went back later to speak with him, to see if he figured out what it was, he was gone. The staff said he was a traveling coroner. That he wasn't here anymore. That was a red flag but what could I do? I tried to go every route I could think of. I remember Noah throwing an absolute fit over it, he knew it wasn’t oil but no one would listen to him. Eventually they blocked every route we tried to take. I knew it didn’t make sense but that was when I knew nothing about these other worlds.” I look at everyone and take a deep breath.

“The day after she died I found her will. I didn’t even know she had one. She never talked about being cremated or death ever. In fact, she never told me about you guys, this world or gateways. None of it. Why?” I breathe that last word out with frustration. I look between my grandparents, looking for answers I know I will not find. “Gods, she even had a small treasure trove I just found. There are letters and journals!”

“Sweet thing, I don’t know why she never told you anything. I know that she must have had her reasons. Maybe she thought she would never get back here.” Li-ana quiets down. She gets a look on her that screams shock. She swings her head back to Furden.

“She knew.” Is all he says for a moment, “She knew and didn’t want to give you hopes of a family when she probably knew you’d never meet us. She probably knew she would never come back, even before she left.” Furden tears stir my own. “She must have known.”

“She was a seer.” I say to myself more than anyone else. “Why would she go to Earth then? Possibly knowing of her death? Or being stranded there?”

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