DESCENDANTS (THE DESCENDANTS SAGA) (22 page)

-46-

“O
h man, I have a killer headache,” Hannah groaned as she walked down the hall. She was still wearing the same clothes from the day before, and they were covered in vomit from one of the boys and spilt alcohol. She looked a complete mess. And since she didn’t want to be seen like that, she took advantage of her new gift and hid herself from view

She passed a couple people in the hall who choked at her stench as she passed them. Hannah tried hard not to laugh at their facial expressions and wondered what they were thinking. The only reason she went to that party was because the boys begged her to. They wanted her to use her gift of invisibility to sneak up on the girls they liked and listen to which girl liked which guy. Even though she didn’t want to go, she really didn’t have a choice. She owed them a favor for the blood she took to Sollara

As she turned the corner to her dorm room, she stopped dead in her tracks. There in front of her was…  herself! Hannah rubbed her head, trying to recount how much she had drunk and if the alcohol was making her see things.

Then she redirected herself to Phoebe’s office. She would know if it was the alcohol in her system or if she really was hallucinating.

When she got to her office, she heard Sollara crying inside. Propelled by her desire to comfort her friend, she didn't bother knocking but entered, went straight in to Sollara, and started rubbing her back. Sollara started batting at the air and then looked around curiously.

“Oh, sorry I didn't realize I was still invisible,” Hannah said as she materialized out of the air. “Sollara, are you okay?” she asked, forgetting about her own problems.

“No, not at all. Kai cheated on me,” Sollara cried as she buried her face in her hands.

“What? Sollara, there is no way that could happen. You must be mistaken. That man loves you more than anything.”

Sollara didn't respond, as she was tongue-tied with tears. Hannah’s heart ached for her friend. She knew how Sollara felt. After all, the same thing had happened to her.

“Everyone gets cheated on, Sollara. Get over it.” Hannah was trying to snap her out of her grief.

“That may be true in many cases, Hannah, but not everyone is forced to watch it happen!”

Hannah could no longer contain the ang
er she felt. “That bastard! I’
ll kill him myself.”

Phoebe took Hannah’s reaction as a need to intervene. “Hannah, you don't understand. Kai thought he was with Sollara. We watched through the looking pond, and, well, the girl looked just like Sollara.”

“Holy crap! That is the reason I came here. I was doing my invisibility cloak thing, and I saw myself pass by. I thought I was so drunk that I was seeing things.” She looked at Phoebe whose mouth was open in shock.

“Where was this other Hannah?” Phoebe asked.

“On her way to my room.”

“Hannah, I need you to cloak again and go to your room and bind her. I will join you shortly. We have to stop her before she gets too much information or, worse, kills Sollara.”

Before Hannah could go, she needed to comfort Sollara. She couldn't bear seeing her friend in the same pain that Nathanial had forced upon her.

“You are lucky.” She sat beside Sollara and whispered to her. “Nathanial knew it wasn't
me

in fact he knew it would kill me, but he still slept with my sister. Yes it hurts, it’s awful. When my sister and Nathaniel slept together, I wanted to kill her. But she was my sister. Instead, I left and came here. I have not heard from them since. Last news I had they were still together. The betrayal hurts, but you know what hurts more? Living without him
— do you honestly think you can live without Kai
?”

Sollara looked up, eyes wide in understanding, and Hannah hoped she had gotten through to her. She gave Sollara one long hug before turning to leave. Just as she was about to reach the door, Phoebe grabbed her arm and stopped her. She pulled up her pant leg to reveal a dagger strapped to her calf.

“Take this with you and use it if you have to, but I would prefer having a chance to question her.”

Hannah took the dagger and looked at Sollara. “If Phoebe doesn't get to it first, I will kill this bitch, Sollara.” With that she turned and left.

On her way to find the shifter, Hannah focused on her hurt and used it to fuel her rage. She would take the opportunity with this shifter to heal some of her wounds from Nathaniel.

Sollara stayed with Phoebe, but the absence of Hannah made her feel weaker. She
crumpled into a ball and fell to the floor. Her tears diminished her awareness, and she didn’t even notice Phoebe leave or Oya come in until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Sollara wiped her eyes and looked up at Oya. “I ran into Phoebe, and she asked me to come check on you. She also explained to me what has happened.” Oya curiously watched Sollara as she quietly spoke the words. “They have the shifter pinned in the bathroom.” When Sollara did not respond she continued. “Hannah is working her over something fierce.”

This news caused Sollara to look up at Oya. She smiled and wiped the tears from Sollara’s cheeks.

“Sollara, I know you don't know me well, but I know Kai. And I know this is a tough situation, but he would have never cheated on you knowingly. He thought it was you, so please remember that when you talk to him.” Her words were full of sadness, and even though Sollara rationally heard her, her emotional side was not willing to let go and forgive Kai so easily.

“I'm not ready to talk to him, Oya. I'm not even ready to
face anyone else. I feel like I’
ve been ri
pped in two, torn to pieces. I’
m a mess.”

“Whenever I’
m going through tough times, I go to a place where nothing matters, where I float above the clouds and just breathe the fresh air. Is there anything that you have done to make yourself feel better?” she asked.

Sollara’s mind went to the Deep Kingdom and the library and her book, her special book. It was the one she read whenever she felt lonely and afraid.

“Well, I have this book I always used to read when I was upset.”

“Did you bring it with you when you left the Deep Kingdom?”

“Yes. It’s wrapped in a black silk dress in the top drawer in my room,” she sniffled.

Oya gracefully got up and floated out of the room in search of the book. Sollara tried to remain calm while she waited for Oya to come back with the book.

Thankfully, it didn’
t take long before Oya glided back through the door and handed the parcel to Sollara. She then offered Sollara one more smile before leaving her alone with the book. Oya sat in the hall outside of Phoebe’s office and quarantined off the room, allowing Sollara time to think, breathe, and unwind.

It took some effort to move, but Sollara managed to get back up on the couch. She rested the book on her lap and carefully ran her hand over the worn leather. The smell and feel brought a smile to her face.

Already she was forgetting her hurt with each moment of growing anticipation to revisit her favorite story. Oya was right; she just needed a distraction.

Tenderly, she opened the book and turned the first page. It was blank. She quickly thumbed through all the pages, and like the first they were also blank. Everything she had held dear had left her. She was just about to throw the book against the wall when something caught her attention. One of the pages had something on it. She flipped back through trying to find the page.

It was close to the middle of the book, and when she found it she couldn't believe her eyes. Written in beautiful cursive was her name.

Sollara

She always knew she had a special connection with the book. But how could it know her name? A tear landed on the page. Instantly, the ink began to swirl and change and soon words began to appear.

“Hello, Sollara. It is nice to meet you. If you would like to respond to me, please take the pen provided for you in the spine of this book and respond here. I will be able to answer all your questions.”

Turning the book, Sollara’s fingers coming to rest on the spine. And sure enough, in between the pages and the cover was a small gold pen. She couldn’t believe all the times she had read the book and never noticed that before.

“What do I ask? Hmmm,” she mumbled to herself as she put the pen to the book. No ink came out. She shook the pen and looked around to find something to test it on. When she couldn't find any scrap papers, she tried scribbling on her hand. Instead of ink coming out, the pen sliced her skin, and she started to bleed.

Upon contact with the blood, the pen began to glow. She stared at it for a moment before thinking to try it in the book. When she put the pen to the paper, sure enough she could write.

“Hello, how do you know my name? Does this pen require my blood to work?”

She had to focus on steadying her hand to write neatly as she was shaking. She watched intently as the words of response began to form.

“I know everything, and yes it does require your blood. Your blood activates the magic in the pen.”

“Who or what are you? And why does it require my blood to activate the magic?”

“I am the sacred book of Prophecy. I require your blood as security so that no other will be able to communicate with me.”

“I don't understand. Iresh said the sacred book of Prophecy has been missing for years. But I have been reading you as a story all along.”

Sollara was stu
nned. She could have known the truth many times over, but the book had never told her, never revealed
it
s true
self.

“When your mother died, only your blood could activate me. I can only communicate with those from the royal bloodline. Aurora brought me with you to the Deep Kingdom. I knew it was not time for me to reveal myself to you. So instead, I filled my pages with stories of your family and Atlanticus.”

“The stories are true? They are about my family?”

Sollara finally understood why they comforted her and made her feel happy all those years. Some part of her must have known that she belonged with the people and the places in the book. It had always been her dream to go to Atlanticus and protect it. Maybe, at last, she was ready to take over her mother’s place.

“Yes, Sollara, they are true. You and Kai are our last hope. I need you to go to Atlanticus.”

“How can I go to Atlanticus? I do not know where it is. And even if I did
,
I do not know how to open the gate.”

Sollara’s heartbeat started to gallop. Secretly she wanted to go, but the unknown frightened her.

“Do not fear Sollara. I will be with you and reveal the way. The Descendants are planning a war. The only tools that can help you defeat their dark magic are protected within the walls of the great city. You must go at once.”

-47-

“Y
ou’
re an evil bitch!” Hannah screamed at the girl. She then slapped her across her face, which was really the perfect mirror image of her own face. Hannah stumbled backwards, finding it too bizarre to watch herself be hit.

“Take my face off, you slut!”

“You have no idea who you are messing with Hannah,” she smirked. “I could be your worst nightmare or your greatest ally.”

“Oh hell no, you are not trying to win me over. There are two things I hate. One, cheating bitches, and two, people messing with my friends.” She jabbed her fingers to emphasize her words. “What... or who are you?” she finished.

The girl didn't answer but continued smiling smugly.

“Take my face off now!” Hannah yelled at her. “Or so help me I will cut it off you!” She pressed the knife Phoebe gave her up to the side of the girl’s face as she smiled and lightly dragged it down her cheek, drawing a faint trace of blood.

“Hannah, calm down. We still have questions for her,” Phoebe reminded.

“Yeah Baby, calm down. Everything's going to be okay.”

Hannah looked back to the girl and no longer saw herself. Instead, she had her knife at Josiah’s throat.

“Why are you wearing his face?” she asked. The girl responded by throwing back Josiah’s head and laughing. The laughter quickly changed from Josiah husky voice to that of a higher and softer feminine voice. And the face changed to that of a woman that Hannah had never met.

“My name is Laora, and the reason I showed you his face is because he was the one I screwed while I looked like you...You are so naïve. He loves you, and I fucked him to get what I needed,” she laughed. “But don't worry, I made sure he enjoyed it.”

Hannah’s hands began to shake with anger, and only Phoebe’s strong grip held her back from slicing Laora’s throat.

“Temper, temper little one. If you kill me, I will not be able to tell you about Mari's plans. Then you will have no hope,” she chided.

Hannah wanted more than anything to end the girl’s life, but she needed to cool down and use her head. “Phoebe, can you take over here? I need to go get Sollara. When you are done questioning her, if anyone deserves to slit this bitch’s throat, it is her.”

Phoebe nodded and pinned Laora against the wall and proceeded to question her while Hannah left to get Sollara. It didn’t take Hannah long to make it to Phoebe’s office, but Oya was in the hall guarding the door.

“Hey Oya, I need to talk to Sollara. Can I go in?”

“I guess so. Has anyone found Kai yet?” she asked.

“No, maybe you should go look for him. Last I heard he was in Sollara's car.”

“Alright. I will tell him what happened.”

Hannah watched Oya leave before opening the door to peer in. She saw Sollara sitting on a couch and writing in a book.
“Journaling?” she asked. “I do that when I need to think some times.”

Sollara looked confused at first. “Oh yes, journaling. Yep,” she said as she nodded her head and quickly closed the book.

“So we have that girl. I figured you might want to talk to her.” Sollara nodded her head and got up and headed to the door. While she was walking, she carefully wrapped her journal in a silk cloth and put it inside her bag.

They trudged down the hall to the dorms, and when they got to the bathroom where they held Laora, Hannah pulled her to a halt.

“Now make sure you don’
t do anything too rash. Phoebe still needs to ask her some questions.”

She didn't answer Hannah but smashed open the door and walked right up to Laora, punching her in the face. Warm blood trickled down the shifter’s nose.

“Ah, Sollara, I was wondering when you would come.” Laora immediately
changed
into the mirror image of Sollara.

“Phoebe, have you gotten anything out of her?” Sollara snapped, never taking her eyes off of Laora.

“No, she refuses to talk even under pain,” Phoebe admitted quite exasperatedly.

“We do not need her,” Sollara spat.

“Yes you do. Without me you will never know what atrocities Mari has set in motion,” Laora laughed
as she phased back into her form
.

“Won’t we?” Sollara cocked her head and stood inches from Laora
’s
face. Suddenly, Sollara shifted and took the image of Laora.

“How did you...? You shouldn't be able to do that,” Laora gasped.

“Oh, this little thing? I guess Mari forgot to mention to you that I can shadow other’s abilities. Oh wait, Mari does not know that I can. I think I will just march right back to the Deep Kingdom looking like you, and I will find out everything I want to know.”

“Sollara, that is not advisable. If anyone were to discover you, they would kill you,” Phoebe cautioned.

“Not before I kill them.”

Phoebe and Hannah stood back and watched Sollara as she squeezed the breath of life out of Laora, who
had gone back to
Sollara’s form.

“This is too perfect. I will go to Mari appearing like Laora and carrying the body of a dead Sollara. She will celebrate my arrival, and when she does, I will kill her for everything she has taken from me. My parents, Aurora, and now Kai,” she screamed.

“No. Please...I will speak…please don't...kill…me,” Laora spluttered between her labored breaths.

Grief does crazy things to people. But the murderous rage Sollara was projecting was scaring both Hannah and Phoebe.

“Sollara and Hannah go wait in the hall.” The tone in Phoebe’s voice was so sharp that it snapped Sollara out of her rage. Hannah jumped as if she had been prodded with a branding iron.

As Sollara was leaving, she glared at Laora. Hannah quickly followed her into the hall. By this point Andrew, Iresh, and Josiah were pacing back and forth outside. Oya must have told them what had happened.

“Josiah’s here,” Hannah mumbled so only Sollara could hear. She looked over at him, and his eyes nervously scanned her face. Poor guy, Hannah thought.
             
How humiliated he must feel. He was taken advantage of by someone who looked and presented herself like the girl he wanted. Hannah walked over to him.

“Josiah, can I talk to you?” He nodded and she took his arm and led him away from the group. When they were out of hearing range of the others, she spoke.

“Did the boys or Oya explain what Laora did to you?”

“Laora? I guess that’
s her name. Yeah, they told me it wasn't you, and man I feel like an idiot. I should have known. You have always been too much of a lady to throw you
rself at me or anyone else. It’
s just that I couldn’t think straight.” His face reddened as he spoke of his feelings for her.

“Josiah, you’
re a great guy. Thank you for saying and thinking those nice things about me. But...”

“But you don't feel the same in return?” he interrupted.

Sadness consumed his face. She shook her head, took his hand and held it to where her heart would be if she had one.

“A
long time ago I was really hurt, and I have not fully healed. I do not think I could feel that way about anyone. Not until I can forgive Nath
anial for what he did to me. I’
m
not ready to do that yet. You’
ve been a really good friend to me. I don't want this to com
e between us, but I also don’
t want to give you false hope or mislead you in any way.”

He pulled his hand away from her and studied her face. His grief-hardened expression softened.

“I have been lucky to count you as a friend. I will not press this any further as I cannot bear the thought of not having you in my life. By the way, I like this you a lot better than the you that manipulated my emotions to get me to do her bidding.”

“Hey, that isn’t fair. That wasn't even me.” She smacked him in the arm. He put his arm around her shoulders, and they sauntered back to the group.

Andrew was watching the pair approach, his eyebrows raised, questioning Josiah’s arm around Hannah’s shoulder. Before Hannah could explain, Josiah threw his arms up in the air. “Seriously woman, I already turned you down once, don't you know I just want to be friends. Stop harassing me,” he shouted. All the boys started to laugh.

“Nice Josiah, really nice,” Hannah said. She was thankful that he could make her feel at ease and bring them back to the place of friendship so quickly.

The pressing need to find Kai burned in Sollara’s chest. Before anyone noticed, she slipped away from the group. Not knowing about Kai made her assume the worst. She needed to hear the truth from him so she would know where she stood. Hannah was right. She couldn't lose him, not now.

Slowly, she moved her feet, one foot in front of the other. She walked toward her car and hoped she would find Kai. When she got into range, she saw that he and Oya sat on the hood of the car, and they were quietly talking. Oya had her arm around his shoulders, and Kai was looking at the ground and shaking his head. Simultaneously, they snapped their heads up as Sollara approached. She froze in her tracks. The reality of what she had to deal with caused her to doubt she was ready.

Oya floated up in the air and out of vision, leaving Kai and Sollara alone. She wanted to run, to copy Oya and float away to a happy place. But for some reason, her feet refused to move.

Kai ran and fell to the ground on his knees in front of her. “Sollara please, please Sollara listen to me. I need you to listen to me...please.”

She knelt down in front of him and put her hands on his face, pulling him to look at her. She wanted him to be very clear about what she was going to say.

“Kai, I want you to know I will never forgive you for sleeping with Laora.”