The Ember In The Dark novel Chapter 12

We were late and of course Eryn scolded us about how important it is to be on time. That we make a commitment and we should be responsible enough to take it seriously. Yada yada. He's gotten kind of bitter since taking the crown.

Eric was already practicing while we were being lectured. He'd make a face behind Eryn every now and then and I had to try hard not to laugh. He's a goof like Ash.

Honestly Grandpa Artie retired a lot earlier than we all thought. He said he needed to beat his inner demon before it surfaced again. Whatever that means. He left the kingdom completely. He is now a councilman for the werewolves instead. We talk every 3rd Sunday of the month. He told me he got rid of that demon, so I guess he's doing good now.

Archery went well after the long lecture from Eryn. I love the feel of a bow in my hand. The whoosh of the air when I release my arrow knowing it will strike true. It's an exhilarating feeling. We ended training and headed in to eat.

"We need to talk to mom after dinner." Ash reminded me and I sighed. I am not sure how mom will take it. I wish Talia would emerge already and give me answers.

Dinner finished faster than I would have liked. Ash eyed me, making sure I wouldn't just run away. I sighed and he and I made our way to our mom.

"Hey, we need to talk to you." Ash told her.

Mom's emerald eyes looked at us seriously. She knew whatever we had to say was not going to be good.

"Okay. Let's go to my office." She led us quickly there and closed the door behind us. "What's wrong? Did something happen at school? Do I need to bring you back here?" She shot her questions in rapid succession. She was in protective mom mode.

"God no." I said too quickly. "It's not about school. It's about me." I clammed up after that. For some reason I couldn't just say it. I looked at Ash for help.

"She found her mate and it made her wolf come out." Ash told her.

Mom's hands found her mouth as she gasped. Her eyes started misting as she looked at me.

"I knew she was in there. I'm so happy for you Ember. What's her name? Can I meet her?" She asked me.

"The thing is she told me she was behind a barrier and that it was placed there to keep me safe. She's been resting since she came out. She said it was exhausting for her." I told her.

"I can help give her energy, if that's something you would like for me to do." She offered. She was trying to be helpful.

"That's not all." Ash added, pressing me to tell her about today.

"I've been hearing people's thoughts. I heard yours yesterday when we hugged, but I thought that was an accidental mind link. Today, however, I read a human's thoughts."

Mom's face got serious and she started pacing the floor. She always did that when she was thinking hard. She's a genius so if anyone can figure this out it would be her. Mom did become a doctor after all, even after having Ash and I during her first year of college.

"Ember, we need to talk to your wolf. I'll take you with me to her. I'll heal her and then we can ask her what she knows. Your wolf knows more about you than anyone else right now. If she doesn't have answers then I'll ask the tree of life. Don't worry, honey, I'll figure this out." She placed her hands on my shoulders making sure I heard her words.

"Yeah, okay, but can Ash come too?" I don't want to do this without him.

"Of course. Everyone take a seat and grab hands." She told us, and we did just that.

I closed my eyes, focusing my attention on mom's magic running through me. I could feel a slight pull inside me.

"Open your eyes Ember." I heard mom's voice.

I opened my eyes and found us in a grassy field. The grass was about 3 feet tall. It swayed in the wind beautifully. Everything seemed a bit dull in color though. Kind of like we were in black and white. That doesn't seem normal. Past all the grass was a small creek that ran quickly. I saw the light grey wolf there, her white patch on her face made her so beautiful to me.

"Talia." I whispered her name.

"She's beautiful, Ember." Mom squeezed my shoulder.

She approached Talia cautiously, very slowly. Talia seemed out cold though. Mom placed her hand on Talia's back and they both began to glow. I forgot how warm the air felt around mom's healing magic. It always seemed to heal my heart a bit when I was near it. Talia began to growl and mom stepped back.

"Talia!" I called her name and her eyes met mine, one blue and one gold.

"Ember? How'd you get in here?" She asked surprised.

"My mom." I told her. "She helped heal you. We need answers."

She huffed, blowing at the grass in front of her.

"I thought you would. I'm sorry I couldn't explain a lot to you when I first came out." She bowed her head apologetically. "Come here."

I took a seat in front of her. Mom sat to my right and Ash to my left, but behind me so they weren't too close to Talia.

"Tell me about the barrier." That one has been bothering me.

"The barrier was made by your dragon and I to protect you when you were first born." She started and my heart almost shattered. She did this to us?

Wait, I have a dragon too?

"You see your mother here consumed too much magic when she was pregnant with you. It was dark magic, extremely potent." Mom gasped, probably remembering what Talia was talking about.

"Lien, your dragon, and I couldn't filter the magic fast enough so we created a cell of sorts. The plan was to siphon the dark magic bit by bit and turn it to light magic as you grew. The bigger you got the stronger your magic would get. However, things obviously didn't go as planned." She nodded her head in shame.

"Somehow the magic trapped us with it. We've been slowly converting the magic to light while trapped, but there's still so much left."

Mom was silently crying beside me. She's wracked with guilt right now. What dark magic did she consume? Why would she do that?

"If we would have taken the barrier down you would have been consumed by darkness. You still could be if we took it down now. Lien told me to go when you found your mate. She wanted you to have at least one of us with you. We both feel so terrible for not being able to be with you the way we want, all this time. We've felt all your emotions and know all about you, but you know nothing of us. We're so sorry."

I was crying now. I had a wolf and a dragon and magic this whole time. This whole time they were in me.

"What about her being able to read minds?" Ash asked. He was worried about me.

"That's because of me. I've always had the ability to read a wolf's mind, but because I consumed some of the magic over the years the ability seems to have grown. I can help you control that. I'll also slowly start releasing some of the light magic we've converted over the years to you. I don't want to release all the light magic at once because it's a lot and you need to adjust to it slowly."

"When can I meet Lien?" I asked her. My dragon. She's a part of me. I need to know her too.

"After we give you some of your magic, I'll teach you how to come back here. You can meet her through the barrier. You won't be able to access her until all the dark magic has been filtered." She explained.

"How much is left?" My heart pounded, waiting for her answer.

"There's still about half left. Once you get a handle on your magic you'll be able to help her filter the magic. Hopefully in a few years we'll be able to have her and all your magic."

"A few years?! That's so long. We can't leave her there alone. That's not right." I shook my head upset.

"That's how it has to be, Ember. She understands it. If you have a destined one and find them she'll be able to come out like I did. Your dark magic would stay trapped alone that way." Talia explained.

I sighed, it's going to be a while before I get to have my dragon. I hope Lien is okay alone in there with dark magic.

"He has the same thing. Only he consumed less dark magic than you did." She pointed to Ash with her snout. "His dragon and wolf have been filtering it out over the years. That's why he keeps getting stronger and larger every year." She explained.

"Oh goddess. My children, I am so sorry. I never thought that anything like this would happen." Mom was a weak shell of herself right now. Her sadness and guilt was so immense I could smell it in the air.

'He was going to kill us all. I should have killed him instead. Goddess damn you Evandrus.' I heard mom's thoughts. An image of someone that looked a lot like grandpa Artie entered my mind. The fight played out in mom's head and my own.

"Mom, you didn't have another choice. You didn't know we were going to gobble it up. You thought you had filtered it for us." I am starting to understand mom more and more here lately. I wish she would share more of her post with us. She always tried to shelter us from anything bad or dark.

"One other thing. Now that I'm out, your twin and you will have a stronger bond. He holds my twin in him. Levi's ability will manifest now. He is an oracle, so Ash will start to see the future soon."

"That's so awesome!" Ash sounded so excited.

Talia laughed. "I see why Levi chose you. Just as playful as he is. Ember I'll release some of your magic tonight. Be careful tomorrow, it'll only heighten our ability."

I nodded my head at her. Please don't let me hear anyone's thoughts tomorrow. At least nothing bad anyway.