What else could I do? I didn’t want to hide. I’d only just escaped, finally finding my way into a world I’d dreamt about my whole life, and now they wanted me to go back in. I had power. I wanted to fight. I didn’t want to run away. Yet, I understood I needed to be safe.
But at the risk of my freedom?
Tavlor stood up, walked across the room, and sat on the bed next to me. At first, he was rigid, as though he wasn’t quite sure what to do with me. It almost seemed as though he wanted to hug me but then he stopped and, instead, placed his hands in his lap.
The bed creaked with the weight of us both. His hand slid to mine where it rested on my thigh. My heart skipped a beat.
“No, Ava,” he said. His voice was still indifferent, but there was that note of intent, like he wanted me to believe him more than anything else. “I’m not trying to put you in a prison for decades. Please don’t think of it like that. I simply... can’t stand by and watch as the bounty hunters find you. And until your father can find the loophole we’re looking for, we have to keep you safe. I don’t know what I would do if anything were to happen to you, Ava.” His fingers curled into tight fists. “I don’t even want to think of such a thing.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing my devastation down. I focused on his hand on my thigh, grounding me to the moment.
I tried to tell myself that life back home wouldn’t be that bad. I’d be back with my sisters, and I had my magic. I could train, read. Literally do anything and everything I’d ever wanted to do, but my mother had restricted. I would also be safe. I wouldn’t have to put my friends at risk.
Just your sisters.
No. I wouldn’t let them put themselves at risk for me. If I was safe, they would be safe. No one would have to know they even existed.
That idea brightened me up and the locket at my throat heated, warming my skin.
I didn’t touch it. I knew my mother would agree with this plan. Even if she didn’t, it wasn’t her decision to make. She wasn’t allowed to dictate my life from the afterlife. I needed to start figuring out what I wanted to do without her input.
“All right.” I sighed. “I’ll go back. If it’s the only place that’s safe. I trust you.”
He squeezed my hand, his fingers sliding against mine in a sweet caress. His eyes were wide, as though he couldn’t believe I still cared for him, still trusted him. It would be a long road to overcome his own prejudice of himself. It had been ingrained in him since birth, since he was in the magical realm.
“I think so,” he said. “You father suggested hiding you in a human realm, but your magic would stand out against the humans. I’m afraid the shifters would sniff you out too easily.”
Shifters? He had mentioned some of the shifters would be after me, but it didn’t occur to me that they would have an advantage over finding me.
A stray tear escaped my eye, sliding down my cheek. I wiped it away with my free hand, embarrassed by my ridiculous emotions. I thought I had gotten a handle on them, but apparently not.
“You’re right,” I said. I sucked in a deep breath and let it out, trying to control myself.
“So, it’ll be easy for you to transport yourself there?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.
I glanced up at him. “What do you mean?”
“Can you transport yourself from here?” He said it like it should have been so easy, like this should be common knowledge.
The truth of the matter was, I had no idea.
I grabbed for my locket and waited. Surely, Mother would have the answer. If she didn’t... well, I’d worry about that when the time came.
It took a minute, but then she said,
No. I’m sorry Ava. But the only way you can access the realm is through the human village. I set it up that way. For our protection. It makes the realm almost untraceable. This way, other magical beings will have to travel through the human realm to even have a chance of getting to us, and that’s only if they know about it in the first place.
I sighed and let go of the locket that held my mother’s essence. I looked back at Tavlor, his piercing gaze still on me, waiting for a response.
“Mother said that there is no way to reach the portal into the realm,” I explained. “There is one entrance, and it is through a human realm.”
His jaw tightened. “That was... smart of her. It is very secure.”
His tension suddenly clicked with me. It wouldn’t be easy to access, would it? “But not great from out here, right?”
We were several realms and portals away from the one human realm that would lead me back to my sisters, and the safety my mother had created. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get us to the correct realm, how dangerous it would be to get through the realms to the final one. And if I had to do it at alone, I worried I was going to get lost. Or worse. I didn’t know the histories of these supernatural entities. I didn’t know which species were friendly and which to avoid. I didn’t know anything.
And yet, if it was what I had to do, I had to at least try.