Page 42 of Voices in the Stars
“Well, don’t let me stop you,” I said.
Atlas waited a second before he spoke, glancing at the scenery around us. Our hands hung at our sides. He turned his head, looking at something that caught his attention, and his hand brushed against mine. My cheeks grew red as I pulled away, holding my hands behind my back, even though we were well past the hand holding stage. Atlas cleared his throat before turning back to the path in front of us as he started talking again.
“They don’t have much going for them as a species. They’re weaker than most that live here. Even those traveling from other areas tend to have an advantage over them. They are one of the few species capable of shapeshifting, though even that is limited. They must share some sort of trait with the creature they want to mimic. Whether that be height, weight, horns?—”
“What happens if they don’t?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me as I cut him off.
A shudder ran through him before he answered, “Monstrosities. Limbs where they don’t belong. Things barely attached to them.”
My body shook at the images that flashed through my mind.
“What are you?” I asked, flinching at the way thequestion came out.
Atlas just sighed, his shoulders dropping.
“I want to answer your questions, I really do, but there are certain things you don’t understand. There’s a lot at risk right now, which is why I’m trying to explain my world to you. Knowing about me isn’t the thing that’s important right now.”
“It’s important to me,” I argued, feeling the normal frustration bubble up at his refusal to talk to me. “If there’s so much at risk, then just explain it to me. I’m not some child you need to protect.”
“You might as well be,” he snapped. “You know nothing, and I can’t just simply explain this to you.”
“You could,” I argued back, “you’re just refusing to.”
“I’m not. I’m trying to explain things in this world to you,” he argued back.
I rolled my eyes at that. “No, you’re trying to stick to what you think are easy topics. I want actual answers,” I said, voicing the gnawing feeling I’d had the last several days. “I want to know why I’m even here.” My voice cracked at the end, eyes burning as I stared at the ground. “All I was trying to do was help.”
“Help who?” he asked, looking down at me, eyebrows drawn together.
“I’m not sure anymore. I thought he was a little boy who just got lost, yet he led me here.”
Atlas hummed, turning away. Silence fell between us. We kept our slow pace. He didn’t pull away from me, instead he continued to walk next to me. Starlight shined down on us. How different was this world. There were creatures here I could never have imagined existing.
“I was sent to get you.” Atlas broke the silence. “As for the boy, I imagine he was most likely Klyn, since he was the Fera I was told to retrieve you from.”
I glanced over at him. His shoulders were drawn tight as he stared out in front of him. The starlight twinkled in the corners of his eyes as he glanced over at me, quickly glancing away with a grimace twisting his features.
“There used to be a coven of witches who lived in a temple in Kilrest. They specialized in defensive and healing magic. Quickly, they became cherished by the entire town. They helped with any ailment, nomatter how small. One day, they discovered they could speak with the gods. Not even just speak with, but summon whenever they wanted. My father heard of this, which started his war against Feycrest. He went for the witches first, claiming he didn’t want them to be able to stop his plans. After killing them all, rumors started that there was a witch somewhere. A child that had been placed in hiding. It took twenty years for my father to find her. He imprisoned people’s families so they would help him find the witch. I was told I was retrieving that witch. Someone I knew had the power to help my father destroy what is left of Feycrest.”
My mind spun with each word Atlas spoke. There had to be some other explanation. What he was saying couldn’t possibly be true. A witch in hiding? Me, being that witch? Yet, it explained how he treated me in the beginning. The incredible anger he felt toward me. He thought he was delivering the ultimate weapon to a mass murderer. Even just the looks that were directed toward me. People had been afraid of us.
Even with all this, my mind still clung to one thing: my mother loved family paintings. They were done for every occasion. They started when Josi was a small baby, just old enough to hold still long enough to be painted. I didn’t show up until I was a small child, though. There were paintings done for celebrations I should have been at. I was always told I simply wouldn’t sit still for long enough. Yet, hearing the possibility that I just simply didn’t exist for my family then felt like parts of my childhood were suddenly snapping together. Why I was never treated like Josi. The need to send me away as quickly as possible. The fight I had overheard the morning of my engagement party. This would mean that my mother had been right: there was something wrong with me.
“I can’t be that witch,” I still croaked out, my throat suddenly feeling tight as I wanted to fight against his words.
I wanted to believe those words more than I had wanted anything up to this point. Even returning to my sister. Yet, if everything else about this crazy world was true, why couldn’t this?
Atlas shrugged. “Most don’t even believe the witch exists. I do know that weird things seem to happen to you. The creatures here are drawnto beings who have large amounts of the world’s magic coursing through them.”
“Everything is always trying to kill me,” I muttered, rubbing where the ember sat in my chest, trying to ignore its pulsating. No part of me wanted to believe that his words were true, but I couldn’t help myself. The fire with the Kabora, the burnt ground around the Fae. It made sense in a twisted sort of way. If creatures could shapeshift here, why couldn’t I start fire? Even I could’ve admitted that those would be weird coincidences if things just randomly caught on fire around me.
“Yes.” Atlas nodded in agreement. “If I brought the witch to my father, he would use her to summon the gods so he could take the gods’ powers for his own.”
“Why are you taking me there, then?” I asked.
I stopped walking as the world started spinning around me. My breathing was ragged as I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air. Atlas grabbed my shoulders, steadying me as I started to stumble. This whole thing started because I wanted to help someone. I just tried to sacrifice myself to save others. Our journey wasn’t going to end with me being used to kill everyone. That was if I wanted to accept what he was telling me. Every part of my being fought against this being true. My eyes were wide as I stared up at him. I was unable to speak any of this to him. My refusal to help his father. My disbelief in the story he told. Nothing about the way he spoke led me to believe it was anything but the truth.
It was the opposite. The more he spoke, the more tension seemed to leave him, like this story was a physical weight that had been pressing against him the entire time we’d been together. This journey had been life changing for both of us. For him, it determined whether his world would continue.
