Raven (16 page)

“
No, that’s alright.” He smirked. “Not feeling the outdoors today.” He glanced outside, giving the field a once-over with his eyes. I also looked, seeing his point. The rain had now not only gotten heavier over the past hour, but had begun swirling into angry cones.

“
Alright,” I shrugged. The prophecy floated out into the hall, feeling brave and adventurous. I could hear Edgar Poe jumping around by the front door, so I grabbed Margriete’s hand and dragged her out of the library as she waved to Sam. “See you later, then!” And with that we left, my nerves singing, but I knew it had to work.

FOR THE LAST TIME

Edgar

“
Where are they going?” I sensed Sam enter as I stood looking out the window of my room. I watched as Edgar Poe ran across the field, Margriete and Elle walking after him.

“
Out. To try and re-enact what Elle did while she was in Seattle.” Sam made his way through the stacks of books, standing right next to me as we watched them outside.

Elle’s prophecy followed like a pet, fighting with Isabelle as she tried to dive down on it, nipping with her beak.

“
What did Elle do in Seattle?” I asked as though I didn’t know, but I had my hunches.

“
Do I even need to entertain that type of question?” Sam’s hands were locked behind him.

I chuckled, knowing he was listening in. I knew what she had done because her prophecy had shown me long ago. What I also suspected was that the reason why it had happened was because she was far away from me. She was growing strong at a rapid pace; growing back into the woman she was before. In our previous life, she was just as powerful, but being that she never left my side, she had never known just how much. It is my choking personality that holds her power at bay.

“
When will you leave?” Sam broke the silence, finding a place in my thoughts to interject his opinion.

“
Soon. She won’t want me to leave, so don’t tell her.” I looked at Sam as he looked at me and lifted one brow.

“
So you’re going to cooperate then? I’m shocked, didn’t know you had that sort of power in you. So far, it seems all you want is to foil everything.”

I looked away from Sam, a little angered by his words. I was trying, wasn’t I?
Give me a break.

Sam snorted.

“
When they come, then I’ll go. But until then, I want to be here. I have to.” I looked Sam in the eye once more. “I do love her, despite what you think. There will never be anyone like Elle. I want to spend all the time I can with her, before—” I felt my eyes begin to sting and I became angry at myself.

“
You will do a noble thing by leaving her.” Sam put one hand on my shoulder.

“
But she will—” I stopped myself again, my voice cracking.

“
I know what will happen to her, but there is nothing we can do about that. In the end, I believe she will understand. She will find some peace at last.” Sam let go.

I nodded, finding I was at a loss for words. For the first time in my life I let myself be weak, allowing one tear to fall. It quickly dried against my cold skin. My eyes were locked on the field, now long vacant as they’d entered the woods and disappeared.

“
She will fail today out there. It’s going to crush her.” Sam added.

I took a deep breath, hearing Henry enter the room as he fanned down and onto my shoulder. He leaned toward Sam as he gave him a discreet scratch on the head, afraid I’d get jealous, though I saw it anyway.

“
What will you do?” I blinked as I said it.

I saw Sam shrug from the corner of my eye. “I suppose I’ll leave. Go back to Heaven. There’s not really much I can do here, especially if she fails.”

“
She won’t
fail,”
my voice was low.

Sam laughed. “Well, either way, there won’t be much for me to do. Especially if she does what she’s planning.”

I pressed my brows together. “What is she planning to do, other than save all this?”

Sam lifted his chin, gloating about the fact that he knew, and I didn’t. I was aware of how out of the loop I had become due to my stubborn nature, but I had snapped out of it, finally seeing that there was nothing I could do to stop this. Ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away. In the end I would still be without her,
again.

“
She’s going to strike a bargain with the gods. She will forge a contract, agreeing to save the Earth, but only if all magic leaves,
forever.
” He made it seem so dramatic.

I had to leave anyway, so it didn’t changed my plans, but still, it surprised me. “Why didn’t I see that in the prophecy?”

Sam took a deep breath for effect. “Why would it show you that? It doesn’t affect you. Either way you’re leaving, and I suppose it knew that.”

I agreed. “True.”

It was hard to even think about. Leaving was not something I had planned for in the end. I watched the forest, the trees swaying. I looked at the ring in my hand, glowing white and then fading to black, repeating the motion as though breathing. I had lived a long life, and though it may not have been as glamorous as I had always wanted, it was still good enough. It was time for it to be over, and time for me to go home.

FAILURE

Estella

“
Here,” I trudged my way forward, the path now so washed out that it no longer made a distinct cut through the forest. Roots from the trees were exposed, and the ground packed firmly. “Let’s try this one.”

Edgar Poe set himself down beside me and retracted his wings, opting to fly in order to stay clean. His black hair was matted to his face with rain, his eyes beady as he watched me with intensity. He had calmed down since we’d gone outside and I was relieved, but also curious. It was as though the expanse of Earth was all that could calm him. A tree stood before us, bare and wet, its trunk swollen and rotting from all the water. I walked up to it, leaning in close.

“
Hello,” I whispered.

The tree creaked slightly. I smiled. Looking back at Margriete and Edgar I saw that they hadn’t moved, too afraid they’d miss something. This was it, my chance to show them that I was
The One
—a chance to prove to myself that the tree in Seattle was not a fluke. I lifted my hand to the trunk, placing my soft skin against the rough wood. The shell of the tree seemed to squish like a sponge, water filling every cell of its existence.

The branches of the tree swayed and moaned, and as I stood there, I waited for something to change. After a moment, I grew frustrated. Nothing was happening, though the tree was thrashing about. I let go, looking up as it calmed down, almost as though I were hurting it instead.

“
What’s going on?” Margriete called from behind me, now standing a distance away, afraid the tree would hit her.

I licked the dripping rain from my lips, my brows twisted in to a frustrated mask. “I don’t know. I did just as I always do, just as I did back in Seattle.”

I turned back to the tree with determination, shutting my eyes and remembering what Edgar had taught me that day on the snowmobile, when we had visited our trees up the mountain. I tried to imagine what I wanted the tree to be, imagining the tree in Seattle and seeing it burn with beauty. I heard the tree before me thrashing again, branches whizzing by my face. I leaned forward, touching it as the image in my head thickened into reality.

I heard Margriete gasp and relief washed over me, but as I opened my eyes I was disappointed yet again. The tree had tried to do as I had wished for it, but it had failed, now only partially bloomed, the rest of it wilted and dying even more than before. I heard Margriete try to say something but I drowned it out, again focusing as I touched the tree. There was a sharp whoosh then and I felt a branch slice at my face. I yelped as I fell back, my cheek burning as I brought my hand up to touch it. The tree was angry with me.

I winced as the salt from my touch mixed with the blood from the wound. I then inspected my hand, watching as thick crimson dripped from the tips of my pale fingers, rain diluting the blood as it washed away. I cursed under my breath, standing with one hand on my cheek, the other propping me off the wet ground. Dead pine needles clung to my jeans, the wet fabric making my skin feel numb. A pained tear grew in my eye, forged from both the cut and the frustration. I watched as the agitated tree dropped whatever leaves I had given it, shaking like a wet dog before resuming its tired stand.

Edgar walked up to me, a handkerchief in his grasp as he pulled my hand from my cheek, now applying his own pressure. “It’s okay, Elle. It will come to you.”

I exhaled, my shoulders dropping. “Edgar, I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Margriete walked up and rubbed my shoulders.

“
Elle, darling. It’s just not time yet.” He smiled at me, a glimmer in his eye.

I saw something behind his stare. “What do you mean? It has to be time.”

Edgar looked away from me, refolding the handkerchief and looking for a clean side. “Well—it’s nothing, my dear.”

He was over compensating, and I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me. “What is it, Edgar? You’re a horrible liar.”

A nervous look crossed his face and he stepped back, handing me the handkerchief. “Well, I—It’s not my place to say, but I do know what it is.” He chuckled, still stepping away from me as though to put a distance between us. “You know how fascinated I am with your kind. Well, I once read, in this very difficult to read book, I wish you could have seen it! It was white and shiny and—”

“
Edgar,”
I stopped him, seeing that he was getting off track. His eyes had begun to glaze over and his movements had become poetic, clearly feeling a sort of passion for this book that only a literary genius like him could. I knew just what book he was speaking of, and I saw that Margriete knew, too, as her face lit up.

Edgar snapped out of it. “Sorry. Anyway, it said that as long as you are together, you can never be as strong as you would be apart. You see, when you are close, all your soul wants is to love. It is happy, and therefore it grows weak!” He walked toward me then, very excited. “Tell me, when you left for Seattle, were you angry with him?”

I did not want to admit that he was right, but he was. “Well, yeah.”

Edgar jumped then, resuming his crazy behavior. “Yes! See! You cannot let him stay here for this. He must
leave
.”

I thought about it for a moment. “Leave to where?”

Margriete stepped toward me, her face grave. “He probably means back. He needs to go to Heaven if you are to be at your strongest. There is no place else on this Earth he could go that is far enough, except there.”

My heart sank. “But, I
need
him. I was hoping he’d be there to help.”

Edgar laughed. “Help? My dear, he kills things. Of course he won’t help!”

I sighed, seeing he was right. Why hadn’t I thought of this, why hadn’t I been able to see it earlier. I hadn’t felt at all the way I had when I’d gone to Seattle, but I had figured it was the anger and hate I’d had toward Edgar, not the fact that his proximity was sucking the power from me. I felt stupid, again. I was so caught up in everything, that I didn’t see the obvious things that were right in front of me. I pulled the handkerchief away from my face, the sting subsiding. I touched the cut. It was still tender but now healing over. By tomorrow, it would be gone as though nothing had happened.

“
So, he has to leave.” I let it sink in. “That’s not so bad. I’ll see him when it’s over.”

Edgar smiled. “Now that’s the spirit, my girl!”

Margriete giggled.

“
It’s only temporary. I will take care of him, so will Sam. We will wait for you there.”

I remembered my plan, and the idea that I was going to strike a bargain with the gods. The idea brought me comfort. I saw Edgar and me in Heaven then, our own house, no longer hiding from the world because we finally belonged. We would be happy there, in the end. It would be our happily ever after. All this was just temporary, and I knew I could handle that; I always did.

“
Well, shall we go back?” I desperately wanted to speak with Edgar about this, find out what he knew.

Rain ran down Margriete’s brow. “Let’s go, dear.” She looked up at the tree as though to tell it that I would be back. She put her arm around me as we both shook with chill. Edgar took to the air, and without hesitation, we hurried home.

BEGINNINGS

Estella

My Edgar wrapped a blanket around me as I sat on his bed, the fire in the corner now roaring as he had coaxed it to life with his hands.

“
What’s wrong, Elle?” His voice sounded shallow, as though he already knew.

I pressed my lips together, thinking for a moment. “I know that you know what has to happen. You have to leave, Edgar.”

He said nothing at first, telling me that I was right to assume. “I know—yes.” His voice was sad.

“
I can understand why you didn’t want to tell me that, either. This one secret is okay. I wish, in fact, that I still didn’t know.” My stomach twisted, the familiar anxiety that I had felt this entire life, returning with a vengeance.