Embracing the Flames (5 page)

I moved to sit on my knees, glad for once that misfortune had skipped over me.

His smile was replaced with mock seriousness. “Logan, unfortunately, was the first thing the Morbit saw, and well, now he can’t get rid of it.” He pressed his lips together to keep from smiling, still tugging on his beard.

“What do you mean?”

“The Morbit attached himself to Logan. It seems he likes residing on his shoulders. He’s only this big.” He showed me the size of his palm.

“What does he look like?”
Lexi must be enjoying this
.

“He looks like a mix between a lemur and a monkey.”

Well, at least he seemed cute.

“But that’s the least of our worries.” His playfulness vanished. “I spoke with a trusted consort about your encounter with Zordon and the connection of the Oraculus. It’s important that we understand and take care of this matter before it grows into a real danger.” His tone turned into that of a father as his head dipped in my direction.

My pulse quickened as a flashback swarmed my thoughts. I was stuck inside Zordon’s spell in the Lyceum, on the brink of death right before a Fate chose to save me.

“Okay,” I hesitated, dropping my eyes, “what can I do?”

He smiled proudly and stood, opening a portal. Then he turned back to me and offered a hand up. “Let’s head back so I only have to say this once. We’ll need everyone’s input.”

I walked uncertainly towards him, wary of the discussion to come. I was sure it would involve me fighting for inclusion. Especially if it included my father.

Moments later, we all took our seats in the cozy living room. The roaring fire’s radiance gave our skin an orange tinge as the sweet scent from the orange peels warmed the room.

I took my usual seat next to the fireplace in a high-backed cushioned chair. Fenn sat across from me, his eyes expertly avoiding mine. It took everything in me to not reach out and touch his face—his face that unknowingly reflected the fire’s beauty—and admit that I blew things out of proportion.

Astral stepped in front of the fire and turned to face us, his presence demanding attention. “We have a special visitor,” he informed, keeping his arms tucked behind him.

Eve appeared from around the corner of the hallway.

My head instantly started to ache. I reached up to rub my temples, gritting my teeth. The headache disappeared as soon as I looked away from her and reappeared every time I glanced her way.

She was still the same lady that I remembered. Short, opal-colored hair shaped along her jaw line at an angle. The same stiffness in her stride that promised a scolding.

Her eyes met mine. I looked away, applying more pressure to my temples in an attempt to ease the ache.

Gabe quickly stood, holding his hands out to help guide her to his seat. The longing in his gaze appeared when she smiled gratefully to him.

I glanced over at Lexi and Fenn who both had their eyes pointed to the ground. Sitting next to each other, it was blatantly obvious that they were twins. Same blue eyes, same unruly hair.

I bit my lip, trying to keep from getting upset again.

“Hello, Aurora,” Eve said coolly. The demand for respect was present in her tone. I had no choice but to look up at her. The lady who had once told me that I was in love with Fenn and that he was my soul mate. The lady who had walked through a Zordon merge with me. The same woman who was Fenn’s mother.

“Hello,” I replied indifferently, my voice slightly cracking. I pulled my eyes from hers. She could see things about me that I couldn’t. I didn’t like that.

“Shall we begin?” prompted Astral, taking center of the room.

All eyes focused on him. I was grateful for the distraction.

“I spoke with a trusted confidant about Aurora’s encounter with Zordon before she returned home to us. We all know that this is indeed an anomaly.” He paused to let it sink in. “At first, I thought maybe it had something to do with Aurora’s emotions tying with Zordon’s, but I couldn’t connect how that would port her to him.” His eyes furrowed at the thought, and then his finger shot up with the solution as he started to pace in front of us. “Then I realized, the most obvious reason this is happening is because she posses her Oraculus.”

He walked over and stood behind me, resting his hands on the back of my chair. Now all eyes were on me.

“The book is the link between Aurora and Zordon, but I needed to know what triggered it. Everything I knew about Oraculuses had to be written off if I was going to figure this out.” I could hear the passion rising in his voice. “Our rules don’t apply to Aurora and Zordon. Not only do they share their Oraculus, but they aren’t complete. So how does this cause a linkage between them?”

I sunk further into the protection of my chair, trying to hide my gaze from everyone.

“Aurora explained every instance where she had encountered Zordon, and there were quite a few.” He sounded displeased and continued with the madness of a teacher. But his words began to fade out, drowned by the feeling of being watched. I risked a glance in Fenn’s direction and instantly regretted it. He stared at me with cold, penetrating eyes.

I gulped. I needed to talk to him…to apologize. 

“...there was only one common denominator. Exhaustion,” Astral stated confidently. I spun around in my chair and gazed up at him in curiosity. He looked down at me.

“An Oraculus is a lifeline. Without it, one could not exist. It feeds off its owner’s energy.” He paused for a moment before looking back up at everyone. “When Aurora is in possession, the Oraculus is in tune to her, feeding off of her energy. It is doubly draining. This is why they are kept in the Hall of Knowledge and not with the owner. Mortals are not supposed to carry that burden.”

Myrdinn’s face remained in a permanent scowl. “But what does that have to do with it porting my daughter to Zordon? How can she prevent that?”

Astral smiled as if that were the question he was hoping for.

“There was something that I kept forgetting. The key to the connection.” He stepped from behind my chair, his eyes twinkling with excitement. “The Oraculus was originally created for Zordon.”

He looked at us expectantly.

I blinked, my mind going blank. Everyone looked the same, stunned and unsure.

I repeated back what he had said, twirling the words around in my mind, searching for a resolution. There was always a tugging sensation when the connection occurred, like I was being pulled by an unseen force.

“When I’m depleted,” I said slowly, the connection beginning to make sense, “the Oraculus wants to tune into him, to use his energy.”

A small smile appeared beneath Astral’s beard.

“My Oraculus is searching for his energy, isn’t it?”

Fenn snorted. “That sure is a game changer,” he said curtly, his voice weighty and cynical.

Astral stepped to the side of my chair, once again tugging at his beard. “It’s something that The Fates did not foresee, which is precisely why they have requested it to be returned immediately.” The deflation in his voice had my head spinning towards him.

“What?” I choked out. Fear slithered in as my mouth fell open. I couldn’t give it back. It was my lifeline. Astral’s eyes shot to mine, agreeing.

“That’s rubbish!” my father declared on the edge of his seat. “With everything that’s happening, what if it falls into the wrong hands?”

“That’s precisely why we aren’t going to give it back,” Astral replied. I glanced up at him, confused by his tone.

His smile was forced as he looked at me encouragingly.

“Astral…,” Eve chimed in, “they won’t agree to that. It’s heresy to go against their commands. She must return it. You know who will pay the price for this.” Her words flowed out like honey.

I tried to refrain from glaring at her.

Astral came to my defense with his finger pointed into the air. “Ah, but this circumstance is different. They don’t have a choice. The cost is of no matter to me.” He glanced down at me and smiled. I couldn’t help but sigh with relief. But it was short-lived.

Astral’s eyes grew dark and his voice went low. “There is corruption in the Hall of Knowledge. Trust me when I say, Aurora deserves to possess her Oraculus…it’s only fair.”

The fire flickered fiercely behind us, mimicking the warning that swam in Astral’s eyes. I felt an uncomfortable tingling sensation run down my spine and I shuddered, hugging myself tighter.

I felt Fenn’s possessive gaze burning the side of my face. My eyes shot over to him. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way, especially when you’re talking about the Gods of our realms,” Fenn said under his breath. He let my gaze go and looked up at Astral. “Do you honestly think we can keep The Fates from taking it back?”

Astral searched Fenn’s face intently, taking the time to think. “I outsmarted them by hiding you two which is something they never would’ve expected. It’s too simple. When you’ve lived as long and seen as much as they have seen, the simple things are what you least expect.

“I hope you’re right,” Fenn replied.

“Eve,” Astral said a second later, his eyes following the words directed to her, “what do you hear?”

She closed her eyes, cutting herself off from everyone as the room grew silent.

Fenn was still staring at me from across the room. My heart sputtered a bit.
Breathe
, I told myself.
You can talk to him after this
.

I looked over at Lexi. If it wasn’t for Logan’s Morbit scurrying from shoulder to shoulder while he tried his hardest to pull it off, I would have given her a scolding stare. But for her sake, I giggled at Logan and his newfound pet.

Eve cleared her throat, her eyes set on me. “There is nothing new or different in the Hall of Knowledge. The whispers are still the same. We are on the brink of a war that will decide the fate of our existence. Zordon’s next steps will determine the war.”

I heard Astral sigh.

“But that doesn’t mean anything. I still can’t see Aurora past this moment.”

We all glanced back to her in unison.

“It makes it difficult to help when I can’t see what’s coming for you,” she said directly to me.

Astral cut in. “Yes, but what we do know is that you have a destiny, Aurora. Eve cannot see your fate, but that won’t change one thing.” He knelt before me, his expression resolute. “You were made to stop Zordon. That is a fact. You are the only one who can.”

I appreciated his trust in me.

“If only we could go back to a more peaceful time like when Lev was Liege,” Myrdinn said with a heavy sigh. The name sounded so familiar. Where had I heard Lev before?

The answer was right on the tip of my tongue, but never fully realized. Logan’s hand shot up as if we were in class, interrupting my thought.

“Yes?” Astral asked him.

“Does someone want to explain to me just what you three are talking about?” he asked as he pointed to Eve, Astral, and me. Lexi’s eyes grew in size as she pulled his hand down from the air and gave him the ‘Ssshh’ lips.

“You won’t be here for long so it really doesn’t concern you,” Myrdinn said with a sneer. He turned to Logan as if he just now realized that he was amongst us. “And just what are you doing out here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be in your room?”

This time it was Logan’s eyes that grew wide.

Lexi whispered something in Logan’s ear and then turned to Myrdinn. “Yes,” she faltered, and then she stood up, tugging on Logan’s arm. “We were just going.” She pulled him down the hallway, her heightened whispers carrying behind her.

The air seemed to lighten a bit with their presence gone. “I swear that girl creates more problems than she solves,” my dad criticized. “We need to figure out what to do with him and Zane. They can’t stay here. It’s not safe.”

Eve stiffened at that statement. I looked at her curiously, examining her face. She looked back at me, and for a moment, she looked caught. Her image wavered, and my brain pounded violently against my skull. I jerked my gaze away, strenuously rubbing my temples.

“I haven’t yet figured out how to send Logan back without further weakening the barrier between our realms. We can’t risk the barrier collapsing just to send him back,” Astral said grimly. “For now he is stuck with us.” This sounded like a death sentence.

“Great,” Myrdinn muttered to himself.

Gabe coughed for attention and we all shifted our gaze over to him. “I checked back in about the spectol situation.”

We all held our breath as we waited.

“Albert and Ghandus said that Zordon never saw it, but they left shortly after that so I had to go and make sure myself. When I got there, Zordon was raging about Aurora and the fact that a Fate had meddled in their affairs.” He glanced in my direction.

“I’m sure he found that unfair,” Astral said, sounding uninterested in pursuing the matter any further. “Now, about Zane,” he continued, “how should we deal with him, Gabe?”

Eve scooted forward in her seat.

“Since interrogation isn’t working, force would be my next suggestion.” Gabe looked over at Eve and then his eyes fell regretfully.

I felt a tight knot form in my stomach. Something wasn’t right with their exchanged glances.

“We definitely should not let him go, under no circumstances. It’s too risky. He would do more harm than good now that he’s seen all of us,” Gabe finished.

“I agree,” said Astral, his tone contrite. Then he turned to Myrdinn. “Do you agree?”

My dad shifted in his seat and then spoke. “It is the only way.” He looked off into the fire. “We need to know exactly how he plans on taking the Stone. Without understanding that, we have no way of stopping him.”

“I thought he was building his army and speaking with the Dark Saar. What other way is there?” I asked.

“It’s not as simple as that, Aurora. You can’t just walk into the Obsidian Chasm and steal the Stone. There has to be a plan, and that is what we are trying to find out with Zane,” Astral said to both of us. He pushed his chin up into the air and walked over to the mantle. “It is done then. Zane will stay with us. We will wake him and begin the forceful interrogation for anything substantial about Zordon’s plans.”