AVALON REDDING
I stared at Fae. ‘Excuse me. Did you say R?ven?’
Fae finished eating the pheasant and threw the bones into a corner. ‘Yes. Why?’
I wasn’t sure how to phrase my question politely, so instead I asked. ‘You don’t mean R?ven Blacklock, do you?’
Fae’s eyes became as round as saucers. ‘You know R?ven?’
I nodded fervently. ‘Yes, she’s a friend of mine.’
Tears sprang into Fae’s eyes immediately, and for a moment I was worried that I’d upset her, but her face broke into an enormous grin, changing her whole appearance. For a moment, I saw a sixteen-year-old girl looking through Fae’s eyes.
‘What’s the matter?’ I asked, concerned.
‘I haven’t seen R?ven in years,’ said Fae. ‘I didn’t know where she was … if she was okay … nothing.’
I smiled. ‘R?ven is fine. Well, at least she was the last time I saw her. I haven’t seen her in a few months.’
Fae wiped the tears away that leaked from her eyes. ‘That’s so good to hear. You have no idea how happy that news makes me.’ She gave me a watery smile.
I returned Fae’s smile. ‘I’m glad. Though I’m not sure where R?ven is at the moment. Last I heard, she quit her job at the Frost Arch messenger service.
‘Frost Arch?’ Fae repeated. ‘Where is that?’
‘It’s in England,’ I said.
‘England?’ Fae repeated. ‘R?ven is living in England?’
I nodded, unsure of where else R?ven had lived.
Fae frowned. ‘She went a long way.’
‘Well, it’s in her nature to fly, isn’t it?’ I asked.
Fae looked at me confused. ‘Fly?’
‘Yes, of course. I mean, as a shape-shifter she can go anywhere she likes, can’t she?’
Fae raised her eyebrows. ‘Are you sure we are talking about the same R?ven?’
‘Well, it’s not a very common name, is it?’
‘The R?ven I knew was not a shape-shifter,’ said Fae. ‘Her parents were … but R?ven was a Siren.’
‘A what?’ I asked.
‘A Siren,’ Fae repeated. ‘A Siren’s song takes both body and soul in a lethargy that can sometimes be fatal. Of course, I was never able to appreciate the full intensity of her voice-’
‘Yes!’ I said loudly. ‘That’s R?ven!’
‘But … you said she was a shape-shifter-’
I nodded quickly. ‘R?ven has two Powers. I know it’s a little strange, but she told me several months ago that she only discovered her shape-shifting Power when-’ I paused, unsure whether I should reveal this information to Fae. After all, R?ven had told me of her troubled past in confidence. That being said, I had no idea of R?ven’s life before she discovered that she could turn into a bird. According to Fae, R?ven had been terribly abused by a man in her hometown.
‘When her parents lost their memories?’ Fae finished.
‘You know?’
Fae nodded. ‘I haven’t seen R?ven since the incident. It was an accident, of course. After school, I went to visit R?ven, as usual. We spent every day together. But when I got there she was gone, and her parents were … well … they were there, but they weren’t themselves. It was as though they were empty shells of themselves.’
‘That’s when R?ven discovered her second Power,’ I said.
Fae nodded. ‘It is unusual. But sometimes new Powers blossom when one is put under great stress.’
‘And R?ven’s parents were shape-shifters too?’ I asked.
Fae nodded. ‘All this time I thought I would find her near our own country … but she was in England.’ Her eyes began to water again, and I couldn’t think of anything comforting to say, so I remained quiet instead.
The return of Hawthorne, Emilija, and the pups was a good distraction, but with seven of us inside the windmill, things were becoming quite cramped. However, Shadow made it his business to curl up in Fae’s lap and go to sleep.
‘So … have you been looking for her since she vanished?’ I asked.
Fae nodded. ‘I set out on my own … I had to tell her … had to tell her that it was okay - that the damage was not as bad as she thought.’
This alarmed me. ‘What do you mean? What wasn’t as bad as she thought?’
‘Her parents,’ said Fae. ‘I can only assume she thought the damage was permanent – that’s why she left and didn’t come back.’
‘But … but it wasn’t?’
Fae shook her head. ‘Not at all. They were themselves again within a month. It was gradual, but eventually, their memories came back to them.’
My heart pounded frantically in my chest because at that moment I knew who it was that had set the Realm onto me.
Nicholo Martinez had been exposed to the raw Power of R?ven’s voice, and his memory had been wiped clean. At least, that’s what we’d thought. As it turned out, R?ven’s Power was not permanent – Martinez would have gained his memories within a month.