Beasts and Burdens (24 page)

63

Annette stared at him with the same displeasure that she had at the beginning of the conversation. Ethan couldn’t help but buckle under her gaze. He wasn’t afraid of Annette, although perhaps he should have been, but he didn’t want to disappoint her.

“Annette, if Addy is willing to go to this much trouble to balance her power, something must be wrong.”

“Adrianna has been like this almost two years. Nothing has changed.”

“How would you know?” Ethan asked without thinking.

“I would know.” Annette’s voice dripped with disgust.

Ethan frowned and cleared his throat. This approach was not going to work. “I am clearly insulting you, but I don’t understand any of this enough to willfully do so. Please Annette, just tell me why you are so opposed to finishing the ceremony. You intended to finish it before. Why did you stop? Why did you never continue?”

Annette sighed and tapped her fist on the table. “I never meant to put mortal power in Adrianna. I never meant to put the earth power in her either. I only meant to connect her to a portion of it. Mortal power albeit useful, is still an emotional power. It should never be housed inside of a witch.”

“But it is. The only way to balance it—”

“Adding earth power does not guarantee that she will be balanced. She might simply go insane, like your wizards.”

“I kind of get the feeling that was a risk the first time around.”

“Yes, it was a risk the first time. However insanity is not the worst prospect. If the she were to absorb too much earth power…” Annette looked into the fire. Ethan wanted to press, but he knew now wasn’t the time. Whatever she was thinking about was making the fire dim unnaturally. “Adrianna isn’t the first I’ve tried to do this to.” She continued, taking her attention from the fire. As she did, the blaze returned to normal.

“In my youth, I attempted to do it to myself, which was a laughable attempt. Trying to exert and harness that much power is like trying to light a fire during a hurricane. In truth, and I only say this because I consider it fact, I’m the only witch strong enough to singularly imbue another with earth power.”

“Who else did you try it on?” Ethan asked trying to refocus her.

Annette’s eyes faltered shamefully before she answered. “There was a young boy, not much older than Levi. I thought he would be strong enough, but his mind severed under the weight of the world, quite literally. He developed multiple personalities that he called North, South, East, and West. He referenced his emotional states like seasons: winter, summer.”

“Was he powerful?”

“Very. He created the passageways that we walk through. He did it in less than a day.” Annette looked back to the fire.

“And? I know this story doesn’t have a happy ending.”

“He was going insane. He started out loopy and careened into wonky. When he started cutting off his fingers I decided that there was no hope for him. I tried to remove the power, but he was too strong.”

“You had to kill him.”

She looked back at him sternly. “Yes, I had too. He was dangerous.”

“Why did you even attempt it again?”

“Adrianna was special. So much stronger. I was stronger. It was arrogant to assume that it would turn out better, but…I’ve never been one to play it safe.”

“You’re afraid if you finish the ceremony that she’ll go insane like your other attempt.”

Annette chuckled. “No sweetheart, I’m afraid that if I finish the ceremony that I will have created the most powerful sorceress in the history of the world. Pure Earthen power directed by mortal magic, there’s no going back from that.”   

64

“Hey,” Ethan offered the only commiseration he could think of when he found Levi sulking in the altar room. His arms were wrapped around his knees like a child huddling scared in the darkness. “Do you want to be alone?”

Levi looked over at him and shook his head. The movement stopped as quickly as it started and he glared behind Ethan. Ethan turned and saw Adrianna in the doorway. She glanced between them and crept in slowly, as if she was now at risk of scaring away the wild animal before her.

“What do you want?” Levi mumbled.

“I should go,” Ethan suggested.

“No,” Levi said quickly. “You’re welcome, she’s not.” He motioned for him to come over. Ethan slipped onto a lower part of the rock outcrop and glanced between Adriana and Levi.

All three dragons lumbered into the cavern from their passageways. No one seemed to mind the intrusion, but Ethan got the feeling the dragon had an agenda other than food. They paused around the altar and watched them. Apparently, they were just as eager to see how this conversation went.

Adrianna licked her lips and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She stepped forward and Levi fixed a finger on her. “Stay away.”

She looked torn between obeying him and demanding that she be heard. She caught Ethan’s eyes and she seemed to have an idea. Judging by the way she tip-toed toward him, he knew he wasn’t going to like it.

He leaned back suspiciously and grimaced when she motioned to her neck. “I know you can’t speak, Adrianna. I can do my best to translate, but—”

She tapped her head and then her throat again. After she motioned a flow from her mouth. She pointed to her brain again, and repeated the throat and mouth sequence on him.

He sighed and tipped his head. “Is this going to hurt me?”

She shook her head vigorously.

“Am I going to be…conscious?”

She nodded.

He glanced at Levi who was taking interest in the exchange. “Are you ready to talk to her? Cause I’m not going to do this if you’re just going to walk out anyway.”

Levi examined Adrianna’s torn face. She placed her hands in prayer and pleaded her case through a crumpled brow. “Yeah,” he said finally, “I have some questions anyway. Do you mind? I don’t want her in my head right now.”

“No problem. Okay, shy girl, you’re up. Just don’t make me sound too girly.”

She offered him a small smile to humor him. He expected that she might touch his throat or link hands with him, but instead her eyes glazed and she focused on his eyes. He felt a cool pressure settle in his throat. He swallowed to alleviate it, but it didn’t help.

When she looked away from him to Levi he started to ask her what he needed to do, but his voice was gone. Frozen, stolen, or just incapacitated, he wasn’t sure. He gripped his throat, but there were no holes to speak of or damage.

“Levi,” he heard his voice crack from Adrianna’s mouth. It was his voice, perhaps him with a cold, but he knew his own voice. “Please let me explain.”

“Annette explained,” Levi interrupted glancing at Ethan. He was probably a little thrown by his voice coming from her too. “I don’t want to hear the reason you did it. I get that. I don’t want to hear why you chose me. I get that too. I just want to know why you made me forget it.”

Despite the newly acquired vocal chords, Adrianna was silent.

“Tell me the truth, Addy. Did you think I would reject you? Did you just not want to be with me? Is that why you didn’t want me to remember being with you?”

“I…” The voice trailed off as she brimmed with tears. She turned away a moment, but quickly returned to face him. “I needed the balance.”

“I know why you—”

“I needed you!” She yelled. The voice was already hoarse and barely recognizable as anyone’s. “I wanted the magic at first. It was conniving, but you didn’t turn me down. I made you forget so you wouldn’t tell Annette. She would not have approved. I returned to you each time with the same new experience to you, but each time you were more…loving with me. You held me so close and so tightly. I couldn’t help falling in love with you.”

Levi blanched at the statement, but didn’t move to her. “Why wouldn’t you tell the one you love, that you are sleeping with them? Why wouldn’t you let me remember those nights that were so precious to you?”

Adrianna glanced to Ethan. He wasn’t sure what show of support she expected from a now mute man, but one glance to the dragons reminded him of what it was she was about to tell Levi. He nodded for her to go on, and she looked back to Levi.

“Because I’m dying Levi.”

Levi unclamped his legs and anger lit his face. A shield against the truth and a weak one at that.

“I didn’t want you to fall in love with me too. I didn’t want you to mourn the loss of me as I will mourn you when I go.”

Levi shook his head and puckered his lips in bitter defiance. “No, you can’t die. You’re too strong. I’ve seen what you can do.” He slipped to the edge of the rock and jumped down to face her. “You are too magnificent! You aren’t dying!”

“I am and even if you chose to ignore it like Annette, it is coming. I can feel it. I’ve tried to spare you, because I love you.”

“Spare me? Spare…you didn’t spare me anything.” Levi frowned looking over Adrianna’s face. “I love you too, you stupid twit.” He started to walk away, but turned back to face her. “I don’t need those precious memories to be in love with you. They were only ever precious because I was already in love with you.”

He continued his storm off, and Adrianna followed. Ethan offered a few frantic hand gestures to remind her that she was still playing Ursula to his Ariel, but she was too distracted. He wasn’t sure if there was anything normal about this particular relationship, but he was almost certain that the yelling would stop soon enough. Assuming Adrianna could hold back her mortal magic long enough to give him a proper memorable first kiss.

65

Well, now you’ll have to speak to us through your mind.
The dragon on the far left spoke inside his mind.

Ha. Ha. Very funny.
Ethan concentrated on thinking the words.
Any thoughts on this evening’s performance.

Have you made any progress with Annette?

No.
Ethan frowned and jumped off the rock to face the dragon that was thinking to him.
She is convinced that the ceremony will make Adrianna too powerful.

Powerful, yes. Too powerful…that is dependent only on the sturdiness of her virtues.

You think that Adrianna won’t take advantage of the power.

Her heart is pure.
Three voices chorused in his mind.

Hey, easy on the simulcasting.
Ethan was glad the dragons were in support of Adrianna, but only because he really wanted to save her. The truth was, though, he didn’t trust them, not like he trusted Annette.

You would trust her over us.
The dragon interrupted his involuntary thoughts.

He crossed his arms and glared at her before shrugging.
I get that you are hundreds, thousands, forever old, but there are rules against creating sorcerers.

These rules do not apply to us.
The dragon stated simply.

They do apply to me. I am supposed to be protecting the world from supernatural influence not supporting it.

There was a long pause.
Your loyalty to your duty will not be contradicted by your actions here.

Ethan shook his head.
That’s exactly what I am doing. How can you ask me to convince Annette to do something that I know Danato would disapprove of?

Danato’s opinion of these events is not relevant to us at this time.
Ethan threw up his hands. The dragons either had no concern for anything, but their own agenda or they were just avoiding revealing too much information. Either way it was making trusting them difficult.
Trust is earned through reciprocity.
The dragon continued responding to his unintentional broadcast.
We put a great deal of trust in you, Ethan Xavier Pierce. Our secret has not been exposed to humans for thousands of years. Our request has been laid at your feet above all others. Our faith in you, places greater weight on your shoulders than simply the life of a girl.

Ethan sighed.
I don’t mean to offend. It is a great honor, but I would feel more comfortable with the burden of it if I understood your purpose.

Purpose?

How do I know that this isn’t just a plot to create a sorceress?

It is guidance, but not a plot. We are only interested in preserving the girl; the outcome of her powers is negligible to us. Whether she is titled a witch or a sorceress is no matter to us, but sorceress, I imagine, would be significantly more beneficial to you.

Ethan furrowed his brow.
I’m not even going to ask what that means since you won’t tell me anyway. I don’t suppose you have any tips on how to convince Annette to do the ceremony.

She is a stubborn woman. Vain and selfish.

Ouch, so do you like anything about her?

Those are observations, not opinions. Her nature is benevolent, just introverted in purpose. My advice is to ask her to do the ceremony.