Page 11 of Their World

Grand Advisor looked just as surprised as Jol.

“Once upon a time, there lived a little girl,” I began and stood, walking around the room with the shadow snake slithering from one arm, up around my neck, to the other arm, and back. “Her mother was gone when she was just a baby, so her father was her only parent. Her father got into a fight and died. A beautiful woman and her mate, King and Queen of the Hybrids, took the little girl and adopted her, making her a princess. While visiting an island thought to be vacant, they encountered friends and enemies. The enemies tried to use a spell that would have had catastrophic results, possibly taking the adoptive mother away from her. So, the little girl jumped into the way, getting hit by the spell instead. The spell was a personality altering spell. It caused the little girl to be angry anda darkness blossomed within her.” Thinking angry thoughts, I made my hair glow, and all of their eyes widened. I skipped the part about sharing the darkness with the guys, since that was a bit too personal and painful for me still. “Friends gifted the princess with a pretty necklace.” I touched the necklace on my chest. “The necklace seemed to draw demon portals to her and draw the attention of demons as well.” The Grand Advisor shifted in his seat nervously as Jol looked at him. “Then, the darkness within her, the power became too great and one day after her twenty-fifth birthday, the power exploded out of her.” I mimed exploding with my hands. “A voice told her to accept it and become a goddess. She accepted it and the power now lives in this form.” I held up the snake, and it rose taller, hissing at everyone. “And that is how the beautiful princess got these powers. The end.” Looking at the Grand Advisor, I arched a brow and asked, “Or is it? Would you care to fill in the blanks? Why does King Jolmach think this necklace has something to do with fate?”

“The one fated to come here received that necklace,” Grand Advisor answered and smoothed his shirt down.

I wasn’t certain I was correct, but I continued with my thought process, trusting my instincts. “Fated? You gave it to a demon, knowing my childhood friends are the ones who fight the demons, and your premonition showed you that they would give it to me. What else did your premonition show you?”

“Your friends gave it to you?” Jol asked.

I nodded. “As a courting gift,” I said to really throw a wrench in the Grand Advisor’s claims.

Jol scowled. “Acourtinggift?”

Grand Advisor’s eyes narrowed.

“We had made a pact to become mates at twenty-five, but my parents required us to court first, so they gave me the necklaceas a gift. To show me that they thought of me even when out battling demons.”

“So, you weren’t the one who found it then, which means you aren’t the one meant to be here,” one of the other demons said and looked at the Grand Advisor.

“No, she is the one meant to be here,” he said with certainty. “She is the one we need here.”

“And I am here,” I said. “Tell me what your premonition of the war looked like.”

“It was of us winning,” he said vaguely. “And I had another premonition shortly after of us walking through your world while your people cowered in fear.”

“Did your premonition of you winning have King Jolmach standing over me in his armor with his spiked mace in his hand while my family watched?”

His eyes widened. “Perhaps.”

I turned to Jol and said, “Isn’t that exactly what happened before the necklace teleported me here?”

Jol nodded with a deep frown. “It is.”

Turning back to the Grand Advisor I asked, “Is this necklace really a communication device and one you can use to teleport me?”

He stood with a snarl. “This is outrageous. You dare to question me, the Grand Advisor? I am the reason we’ve survived as long as we have. I am the reason we’re able to utilize the portals.”

My hair had started glowing and I tried to stop it, but the more his lies fell into line with my thought process, the brighter it glowed. “Utilize the portals you create, you mean?” I asked. “My adoptive mom can create portals, up to five at a time.”

“Explain,” Jol demanded and snarled at the Grand Advisor.

“Are you really going to listen to the words of an outsider? A child who knows nothing of our world? I’ve been doing everything I can to help us. I was put here by the gods.”

His body shimmered a moment before starting to glow. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and gasped when I saw him without horns, looking like a human. Slowly, I was starting to realize what was going on.

He was at least part siren and had been using spells to alter what he looked like to other people. He must have also been part mage to use the portals. That was why he felt like a hybrid, because he was one.

“Enough, I’m tired. I shall retire for the day. Perhaps, after you’ve had some sleep, you shall remember to show respect to your elders,” he said and glared down at me. “Then, I will explain the powers you have and what I meant about being a goddess.”

My elder, alright. He was likely a hybrid that had been part of the group that tried to take over Jinla and had fought against Nana Jolie and Great Aunt Leona. I really wished they were here right now. Or at least Dad, since he was part siren and resistant to their powers.

He left the room and I turned to Jol, my hair no longer glowing. “I apologize for any disrespect I may have shown to you. It was not my intention. Sometimes, this darkness …” I raised the snake before making it disappear, curled back up inside of me, “… it causes me to be quick to talk instead of think.”

“I appreciate your apology, but it is not necessary, as you did not disrespect me. Come, let me escort you to your room.” He looked at the others in the room and said, “Hold off on enacting the plans we discussed today. I need to investigate a few things first.”

They stood, bowed, and said, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Jol waved for me to follow him and I did with Dhun on my heels.

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