Page 70 of The Light Falls
“Pay attention,” Tiernan whispers urgently.
I dart a quick look around and see we’re entering a canyon. Flying low, we twist in and out of each curve, never slowing down. He suddenly stops and dives behind a boulder.
“What is it?” I whisper, settling beside him.
He shakes his head and points down to the canyon floor where a salamander flies by in a ball of fire. When it’s gone, he launches into the air, and we continue our harrowing flight.
Emerging from the canyon ten minutes later, he banks sharply right and drops into the nearby valley. This time, the forest forces us to slow our speed in order to avoid hitting the trees and branches in our way.
“Almost there,” he whispers on the wind.
We get to the edge of the forest, and he stops. Setting down, he immediately changes back to his human form and holds out his hand. “Put this hat on. We walk the rest of the way.”
Bewildered, I take it from him and look around at the empty field in front of us. “Walk where?”
“You’ll see,” he says enigmatically. In a leisurely stroll, he heads toward the middle with me by his side.
Straining to see through the darkness, I get a strong feeling we’re being watched. I lean over to say something, but he throws an arm around me and laughs loudly. “It’s the guard tower. Act drunk.”
Singing an old phoenix bonfire song, I weave side to side. Eyes peeled, I look for some sign of the guard tower, but don’t see anything. And then I do. It’s right in front of me. I blink.
“Don’t look back,” Tiernan hisses. “If you do, they’ll know you’ve never been here. Keep up the act. It’s working.” He stops and gives a complicated hand signal to the guard. “Wave like a drunk fool.”
I do, and the guard in the tower says something to his buddy. They both laugh. “Go on.”
When the gate opens, we enter a completely different world. One of fire and earth. Carved into the ground, the old mine shaft is a city filled with shops, houses, and people. Kids and animals are everywhere. The regular noises of a village, except this is much larger than any village we had when I was a kid. This is a massive city.
“Keep quiet. I’ll explain anything you want to know later. We don’t have much time, and we still have to make the long trek out,” Tiernan murmurs. He drops his arm from me and hurries to the left.
I follow, and we come to another area similar to the first except this one has a sign on it. “Phoenix.” When I look down, I see a city as large as the first one. This can’t all be phoenix, but as I look around, I realize they are my people. Every single one. The hellhound was right. There are thousands of phoenix here. Enough to make an army even without the Water Fae.
My mind is screaming with the weight of it all, but I refuse to give in. Tiernan takes me to a cafe on the fifth floor. We sit and order coffee. He subtly lifts a finger toward the large house tucked into the ring across from us. Only the front of the house is visible. The rest is concealed by the dirt packed around the outside walls.
A little girl comes out, followed by a familiar dark-haired woman. My breath catches. Under the hat I’m wearing, I watch her stop and look around. Expecting to see my mother’s beautiful blue eyes, I’m surprised to see amber gold ones sweeping the area. Confused, I study the woman closely and realize her features are slightly different than my mother’s. Similar but not the same. My gaze drops to the little girl.Aeris.That’s not right, though. My sister would be almost three thousand years old. I dart another glance at the woman. That’s Aeris.
When they pass by, I hear the little girl call the woman “mommy” as she chatters nonstop about the ice cream she wants after dinner. Aeris laughs, and the sound pierces my heart. It’s the exact same tone as our mother’s. A few seconds later, they’re gone, and it’s all I can do to sit here and not chase after them.
I glance desperately at Tiernan, and although he looks sympathetic, he shakes his head and lifts his chin toward the house.
Watching the door, I can’t help but think of my sister and her daughter. I’m an uncle. Is she her only child? My father steps out, turns, and kisses… a blond-haired woman. I freeze, staring at the two. When he releases her, I follow him all the way to the stairs. He stops, and I quickly avert my gaze.
A couple of minutes later, I hear his footsteps on the iron staircase. I glance at the door to the house, but it’s closed.
“Was that your mother?” Tiernan asks.
“No, it wasn’t,” I reply. “Do you know if my mother is still alive?”
“I can send word to a friend to ask around, but questions about Brixton and his family can get someone killed. I’m not sure he’ll be able to find any information,” Tiernan explains.
“That sounds like my father,” I reply in a hard voice. “Don’t worry about it. He obviously couldn’t care less if I’m alive.”
Tiernan looks across to me. “Come on. We need to go.”
Instead of going out the same gate we entered, he takes us around to a side gate. “Our flight will be longer, but we can’t take any chances.”
Still thinking of everything I saw; I numbly nod and follow his lead. Nyssa lied. It shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. She loved to torment and threaten me. My family would have provided her with the tools to do both. Unless she truly didn’t know?
When we get to the forest, he looks back at me. “You can talk now but speak quietly.”
