Monsters & Fairytales (61 page)

“What are you waiting for?” Sebastian leaned down and whispered in my ear.

I took the tiniest step possible forward. I was hoping that Zerach would fill the gap. He didn’t move, but our eyes locked. His were such a light black, like a dog with cataracts. Did the color fade from them, too? The more I stared I realized that I couldn’t see my reflection in his eyes. It was interesting. I was stepping closer.
             

He held up his hand just before I was directly in front of him. He nodded his head to me and turned to set the human in his arms down. When he stepped aside, my mother, my adoptive mother, was right there. He had known which one I’d meant. She was there. I felt like I was going to faint.

This can’t be it.

((
beauty
is an art, let the earth be your canvas
))

“Mom!”
I screamed.

I didn’t mean to belt out like that, but seeing her made me lose control. There was a look in her eyes that I had never seen before. I had frightened her. I was such an idiot. Of course, the four giants behind me could have some play in it. I shooed with my hands to rush them off.

“You’re scaring her! Go away!” I urged them.

“Mirabelle, I don’t think it’s any of us that are frightening her.” Carlyle whispered.

“Mirabelle?
I had a daughter with that name, once.” My mother said.

They way her voice lightened when she spoke of me, it gave me chills. I didn’t understand it.

“Mom, I am Mirabelle.”

I started walking towards her. She took a step back, though.

“No, no. My Mira passed away some time ago. You’re not her.”

“What?”

I looked back to Sebastian. Help me. Someone had to know what was happening.

“They create their own world out there. To cope, she probably told herself you were gone and has been ‘living’ like normal.”

“Spike!
Where is he? He’ll remind her.” I asked, looking up at Loki.

“He is at my house, still. And that will only upset her more. You have to approach her differently.”

“But… she’s my mom.” I whispered.

I felt completely defeated. All this way and no one thought to tell me she might have no idea who I was.

“If you can’t conquer this, how can you expect to face the Zahn?” Zerach said.

His voice was but a whisper. He was very out of breath. I wanted to thank him for everything. He was right. If I couldn’t convince my own mother of who I was, how could I convince the Zahn of what I was to be? I had to do this. I had to be strong and suffer through the pain. With a deep breath, I turned around and walked back to her.

“Ms. Frances?”
I said.

“Yes? How did you know my name?” She asked.

“I am your new caretaker, the others told me. It’s time for our walk in the garden.” I said.

“Is it really? I have been waiting a long time for that. My daughter used to take me you know?”

“You don’t say? You never mentioned her before. What’s her name?”

I put my arm on her back. The touch of her made me want to collapse. She was warm and full of life. I wasn’t sure I could make it. She gave me a look, and I realized I was losing the trust I had just gained. I had to be strong, for her. I lead her into the forest along the stream.

“Oh, she was lovely. Her name was Mirabelle. She passed away just before her eighteenth birthday. You kind of remind me of her.”

“Is that good?” I asked.

“Yes. I miss her. I think about her all the time.”

“I’m sure she thinks of you too.” I said.

This was too much. Was this my test? Was she my Zahn? I felt my heart breaking with every step. Every word led me further into insanity. I could see myself not minding getting lost with her here.

“That’s good.” Rida mumbled.

I watched her walk off to a tree and pick a fruit. She washed it off in the stream and sat on a rock. When she took a bite into it, she stared at me. She had to know. The water was purple, the tree was pink, and the fruit wasn’t even shaped like a typical fruit.

“Do you want one?” She asked me.

“One what?”
I asked.

Maybe it could spark something and have her realize on her own what had happened. That’s how Sebastian always did it with me; he waited for me to grasp reality.

“An apple, of course.”

“Ms. Frances, aren’t apples green or red?” I pushed a little farther.

“Well, I guess they are. This one must not be ripe.”

She tossed it into the water without a second thought. I watched a fish swim over and take it away.

“And the
water,
isn’t it supposed to be blue?”

This time, I hit something.

“I...I don’t understand.” She mumbled.

She started standing up and backing away from the water. There was a strong panic in her eyes. I couldn’t lose her. Not yet.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

I walked over to her doing my best to soothe her.

“Who are you?”

She looked into my eyes. We were so close. I could see every feature of her. She was exactly how I remembered her. I took another mental image, to ensure I’d never forget.

“I’m your daughter.” I cried.

I placed my hands on her arms and tried to gently force her to see the reality. I had a seconds worth of a breakthrough, but it was lost.

“That’s not true!” She yelled.

She yanked her arm from me. Her face was threatening. She thought I’d harm her?

“Please!” I begged.

A step closer and she stepped back into the sun. That’s when I saw it. She was wearing the necklace. Somehow she had on the ‘mother’ puzzle piece that Spike had been wearing. Had they already met? Did she see him first?

“Look!” I yelled.

She stopped and stared at my hands. I was holding the charm up.

“No. How did you get that?! That was a
present from my daughter. She left it for me. I never had the chance to thank her
.”

“
No, Mom, it was present from you to me.
For my birthday.
You gave it to me. You left it behind the books. I found it. It’s me, Mirabelle
!” I pleaded with her.

She crept over and stopped in front of me. She lifted up her necklace and matched the pieces together.

“Mirabelle?!
How is this possible? You died!”

Her voice cracked and a tear slid down her cheek. Another one fell and she was standing there, breathless. Reality had finally found her.

“No, Mom, I’m very much alive. You were the one who passed away. The cancer got really bad and the chemo wasn’t working. You were suffering; I had to let you go.” I whispered.

“No.”

She shook her head in disbelief. Through the tears, I could tell she knew I wasn’t lying. She had been in denial this entire time. I didn’t blame her for wanting to stay there in whatever version of Heaven she had created. It was much more painful where I was. I caused that pain to leech on to everyone else around me. I didn’t want her to feel it, but if that’s what it took to get her to see me again, then it was very much worth it.

“I promise you. I had to set up everything. I put you in the ground and I sold our house. I’ve been doing all of this alone, Mom! You just left me!” I yelled.

“I would never do that to you.” She said.

“You did.”

“Mirabelle, honey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know I had cancer before I took you in. I loved you. And I never left you.”

With hope in her eyes gleaming, her foot lifted up and placed itself closer to me. My heart tingled. She remembered. She was remembering.

“Mom.”
I blurted out.

She held out her shaky arms and I flew myself into them. To feel her again and smell her, it was greater than anything I could have ever hoped for. Like a levy breaking, my emotions poured over uncontrollably to claim the place they were told they could never touch again. A thousand times over, I felt the days lost reconnect. I never wanted to lose them again. I wanted to stand there forever and relive the moments, just one more time. I didn’t care how long it’d take. I’d stand there and let the whole world disappear if it meant being with her again. This was my Heaven.
             

I had to be strong. There was a purpose. Pulling myself back, I looked into her eyes. Before I could say anything, a rock was kicked lose from its place in the ground. Sebastian was coming for us. I hadn’t said anything, yet. It wasn’t fair. How could he expect me to have already talked to her? I had just gotten her back.

“Mirabelle.”
He interrupted us.

“No.” I begged.

“You have to.” He demanded.

He placed his hand on my shoulder to encourage me. He only meant the best, I knew it. I didn’t want to admit it.

“Have to what?” My mother asked.

We pulled apart, finally. I felt like I couldn’t breathe without the suction of her grasp on me. She wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. Sebastian was in his human form staring at us.

“Oh, who is this?” She asked.

“This is Sebastian.” I introduced him. “He’s kind of my boyfriend.”

“Well, hello.”

She held her hand out with a sly smile. It was adorable; she was everything she used to be. Course, I didn’t bring home many guys, none, actually, but that didn’t mean she didn’t try to flirt with them at the shopping center or grocery store.

“Ms. Frances.”
He took her hand and bowed.

“What’s this you have to tell me?” She asked, keeping her eyes on Sebastian.

For a moment I thought she may’ve recognized him. I know he had said that he himself didn’t deliver her soul into the heavens, but he was the same breed as his uncle now. Maybe she could tell
?

“Mirabelle has to tell you. I would like it if you walked back over with the rest of us.” Sebastian asked.

“Why of course. Are we meeting your family,
Dear
?” She smiled.

“Yes.” He nodded.

I followed them up the pathway through the trees that led back to the house. Sebastian stopped in front of the three men that had once been Aegyssusians. I felt sick when I saw Joe standing there. His smile and his eyes were forcing me to be enamored, but I was better than that.
             

I was shocked to see Loki and Zerach were in human form, too. I knew they would have to be to make the family portrait fit, but I just couldn’t really see them as humans. It seemed below them to portray themselves that way. Regardless, Loki was about the same height as Joe and had his blonde hair. It was short, cut off at the top, but you just knew if it grew out it’d be curly.

Standing next to his brother, Zerach held the stance of a military cadet in formation. He wasn’t scarred up as a human and for some reason that bothered me. I felt he lost his power that way. Maybe that was the point, with Loki being the supreme leader in the family over his sons. For Zerach to be even greater, it would make it hard to believe he wasn’t the father. However, Zerach did sort of resemble Sebastian as a human.
Did that happen when he swapped tribes?

“Rida.”
Loki held out his hand. “I am Louis, his father.”

“Hello.”

She smiled and nodded in a way that you would to a rabid dog deciding to give you a chance to walk by unscathed. I didn’t blame her for feeling intimidated.

“I’m Joe, Sebastian’s brother.”

“And I am Zach, his uncle.” Zerach laughed, nudging Sebastian.

“Zach? Have we met?”

She looked into his eyes. I could tell that he was feeling uncomfortable. Was she lapsing back? Was I about to lose her?

“Mom!
Are you hungry? Let’s sit down over here and have a picnic.”

I grabbed her shoulders and walked her off towards the pond again.

“Um, Mirabelle, the chairs and table are over this way.” Sebastian said.

He directed us in the other direction I had been walking. How could I have known even if I weren’t in my state of panic?

Off to the right of the house, in between that and the other
one,
was a gazebo. I walked her up the stairs and we sat down next to each other. Without a word, Sebastian and Joe sat down with us, too. I was glad Loki and Zerach didn’t join, they created too much of a distraction. Right now we needed her calm and prepared for what I was going to say to her.