The Steele Wolf

CHAPTER 26



Furniture was broken, tables overturned with food spilled all over the floor. What looked like either blood or wine was splashed across the marble walls. People were lying in heaps on the floor. I saw Berry’s body lying protectively over Avina.

Crying in fear, I stumbled through the room and knelt down to them, touching their skin. It was warm. In fact it was too warm. And that’s when I saw Berry’s eyes wide with fear blink at me.

She was alive! I moved Berry’s hair aside and saw that Avina was alive and well too. They were only paralyzed. Avina tried to speak through frozen lips.

“Shhh, shhh. It’s going to be all right.” I tried to comfort them. “It will wear off in a while and then you will be good as new. I promise.” I knew all too well the emotions they must be feeling. First it would be fear and helplessness, followed later by anger.

Standing up, I surveyed the rest of the room and damage. I checked every guest in the room and all of them were no worse for wear. A few bumps and bruises; a couple cuts and scrapes as some guests were unlucky enough to fall on glass. But everyone was in the same condition; paralyzed, but alive. Had Mona done this? What had happened after I had left?

Hemi, Joss, Nero, Gloria, Darren and Mona were unaccounted for. I tried to reassure everyone that was still in the room that I would be back in a moment and began a hunt for the missing Jesai family. It wasn’t until I had checked in Gloria’s room that I found them. They were mostly unharmed.

What surprised me the most was that Mona was gagged and tied up in a corner of the room. She had been tossed there like a bag of rotten potatoes. Joss had a fat lip, and Nero sported a bruised cheek. Both of them were sitting on either side of Gloria’s bed, clasping her hands. Darren stood guard over Mona and kept giving her disgusted looks. As soon as Hemi saw me, he rushed over and picked me up, giving me a large hug. He then crushed my wrist within his large hand and held on for dear life as if he were afraid I would disappear again on him.

“What happened?” I asked. My voice sounded loud in the near silent room.

Joss glanced at me but looked away from me in shame, refusing to make eye contact. Nero’s shoulders were shaking as if he was crying.

It was Darren who finally answered me. “We aren’t really sure what happened. One minute we were happy and celebrating, and then the next we were all fighting amongst ourselves like dogs. I can barely remember who started it. But I think it was meant as a distraction. Only I don’t know how it happened or why.” Darren gave a seething look at Mona before looking over to Gloria again.

“It’s the drink. The more you drink, the more she is able to control you,” I spoke. Mona’s head snapped up and her eyes glared angrily at me. “I ran into her father, Joss, and he said as much.”

Joss didn’t even look at me but hung his head in shame and buried his face in his hands.

“Joss,” I said his name trying to get him to look at me. “Joss, please look at me.” He didn’t move and I was getting frustrated. “Joss, Talbot is the Raven. Talbot has your sister.” When my words sunk in, Joss turned and flew from the bed in a single motion to face me.

“Are you serious?” Now that Joss faced me I could see that he had been crying.

“Yes. Talbot is the Raven and he said he has your sister. He ran away, and Kael is looking for him.”

This time it was Nero that spoke up. “Why? Why her?” Nero was in shock and clasped the hands of his wife. I wasn’t sure whether he was talking about his daughter or his wife.

“Nero, what happened to Gloria?”

“When we started fighting amongst ourselves, there were only a few not affected. They tried to stop us. Kael knew something we didn’t and went straight for Mona. She tried to defend herself against him. If what you say is true and she can control others, I think she lost her hold on them and everyone just fell to the ground. Kael subdued her, as you can see.” He motioned to the tied-up Mona, who at the mention of Kael’s name screamed in rage against her gag.

Darren nudged the raging Mona with his foot and she tried to kick him. When she had stopped fighting, Nero looked at me again with a look of utter helplessness. “It wasn’t until after Mona was tied up that Gloria started to have a seizure. She hasn’t spoken or moved since. She’s fading away fast and is resisting our efforts to heal her.”

I let Nero’s words sink in and I tried to think of something to do, anything. Should I run and find Fanny? Would that even help? It wasn’t until my eyes rested on the cup that was on a table next to Gloria’s bed. She had been drinking the concoction made by Mona a couple of times a day for months or even years. By now Gloria was nothing more than a drug addicted puppet.

Closing my eyes and opening them again, I looked deep into Gloria and sought after the glow: her life energy. It was strong and blazing bright; but shadows surrounded it, squeezing, trapping, trying to subdue the light. I picked at a thread of shadow and followed it with my consciousness and it didn’t surprise me one bit when the thread of shadow led to Mona.

“It’s Mona. She’s still controlling her. She’s been doing it for months, making Gloria believe that she’s ill when in fact she’s not. She’s trying to trick Gloria’s body into thinking it is dying.” It all made sense. If Mona was under attack by Kael than she knew she was in a fight for her life, and she would do everything she could to keep the upper hand. And in the palm of her hand was Gloria’s life. She couldn’t control everyone, so she released them to take hold of her weakest-willed puppet, a puppet she’d controlling for months. It was her only bargaining tool and that was why she hadn’t killed Gloria yet.

I relayed my thoughts to Joss and Nero and both of them turned angrily on Mona. Her eyes lit up in triumph when they realized that she was the one holding the power. Nero stormed over to her and shook her shoulders, demanding for her to release his wife. When Nero shook her I saw her torn dress move an inch to reveal something dark underneath.

“Stop!” I touched Nero’s shoulder and he stepped away from, her, turning his back on her in anger.

“How could you do this to us? We took you in, you were like family!” Nero’s shoulders quivered in anger. Mona’s eyes flicked between Nero and Joss and then to the floor.

Kneeling before Mona, I reached towards her shoulder and torn dress. She hissed and tried to kick at my hand. I jumped back because she startled me. “Darren, hold her please.” Darren did as I asked, holding her from behind, but looked as if he would rather do anything else than touch her.

Stepping close to Darren, I looked sadly upon Mona’s torn dress. It was beautiful at one time but would be headed for the trash bin. What had caught my eye wasn’t the dress but rather the large tear that started by her collarbone and ended by her shoulder blade. Pulling Mona’s long braid aside I lifted up the flap of silk to reveal a familiar brand on the back of her neck. Two slash marks surrounded by a circle, the hidden mark of the Septori. I dropped Mona’s braid back down onto her back as if it had burned me and I stepped away.

Here was all the proof we needed against her; she was a member of the Septori. “Joss, she’s one of them.”

“Make her stop,” he yelled angrily at her. “Make her release my mother.”

His heated words made me pause in wonder. Only a few hours before, I had seen the two of them in a warm embrace, kissing. The betrayal and turmoil of emotions had sent me running. Was I mistaken in what I saw; had I judged Joss too soon? Here he was acting completely different.

“I don’t know how.” I whispered back.

The look Joss gave me was one of complete helplessness. How could we get her to release control of Gloria without harming her? I was at my limit; my skin was still burning to the touch and I was emotionally and physically exhausted. The run-in with Talbot had drained me and stirred up a plethora of mixed emotions, ones that felt like chains were being slowing drawn around me.

“Please, Thalia,” Joss begged. “If anyone can, it’s you.” The words spoken in complete honesty were meant to encourage me but instead felt like a weight had been added to the chains around me and was now dragging me into an abyss of hopelessness.

I nodded to Darren and he pulled off her gag so that we could speak to her.

“Mona, please release Gloria,” I pleaded softly. “I know you must secretly care about her. Otherwise you would have let her die weeks ago.” It was a gamble. I had seen Mona hovering protectively over Gloria. So I was gambling on the fact that, since Mona lost her mother, she may have secretly seen Gloria as a substitute mother figure.

Mona’s eyes started to tear up, and I should have stopped speaking then but I didn’t. “If your father forced you in any way to do his bidding, we understand. You don’t have to be part of the Septori; you can leave them and help us. We’ll help you.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about.” Mona started to laugh hysterically. “No one forced me to do anything; I chose to become a member of the Septori. You have no idea the rush that absolute power gives.” Mona glared at the Jesai family and spit in their direction. “You said you gave us a home. You probably thought you were extending that invitation out of the goodness of your heart. Well, I have a word for you. You didn’t. I made you think you did. You didn’t know us or Talbot, but a few hours and I made you think you had known us for years.” Mona started laughing joyfully, kicking her feet in exultation.

Nero’s face paled and his hands started to shake. “No, that can’t be, I remember….”

“NO! You only think you remember. I altered your memories and it will take years for you to filter through them and find the truth. That’s what being a member of the Septori allowed me to do. I controlled and ruled the leaders of the Skyfell family within the misty veil. And when I had proven myself, then I would be allowed an even greater task.” Mona looked crazy, blind with greed and power.

“Is that why Xiven was so strong within the veils?” I asked. “Is he Septori too?”

“Xiven was here to make sure I did my job;, that is all. He was assigned because we looked alike. He was my watchdog and look how good of one he turned out to be. He’s probably long gone by now, off licking his wounds.” Mona’s lip curled in distaste. “Thanks to you.”

My mind whirled as I tried to process all of the information that was coming at me. Mona was put here to control the leaders of SkyFell. She was able to easily with the concentrated chai they all drank greedily until Joss had left to train in Haven. How could she control the future leader if he was gone?

“You would have gotten away with it too, until Joss left. That’s why you kidnapped Joss’ sister. It was so that he would come back.”

Mona nodded. “Catch on quick, don’t you? I got in trouble when he left. I actually think Gloria knew something was up and orchestrated him leaving for school when I left for a few days and the drugs started to leave her system. When I had returned, he was gone. But that’s alright. I know how to bide my time. He was promised to me as a reward, once I had proven myself to Talbot.”

“When Joss finally came home, I was shocked to find out that he brought home a lost puppy and even more shocked when he announced his intentions to become your lifemate. I would have killed you, Thalia, believe me I would have; but Talbot recognized you and made me wait and watch you.” Mona shifted her feet uncomfortably and looked me over from head to toe as if realizing something for the first time. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

“One of what?” saying the words made them feel like gravel in my throat.

“His experiments.”

Since Mona obviously didn’t know off hand, it she wasn’t as important to the Septori as she thought. She wasn’t apprised of all of their doings or her father’s. But the way she was speaking about Talbot led me to believe that he wasn’t even her father, just a ruse to allow him into the Jesai’s home. Her attitude sparked something deep inside, a cache of hidden determination and will. The stubbornness that helped keep me alive in the prison began to rise to the surface.

“Apparently one of the better ones,” I challenged, pretending pride. Obviously Mona wanted power and I stood for what she secretly wanted. Mona’s eyes grew dark with jealousy. I decided to push her further with a lie. “And you’re one of his!”

“What do you mean?” Uncertainty filled her eyes.

“Do you honestly think he never spoke of you, of his disappointment in you? I spent many hours in his presence, and I’ve overheard many things spoken when they thought I was unconscious.” I stood up straight and threw my own look of contempt on my face. “How you are one of the failed ones.” It was another gamble but I saw that it had a ring of truth to it, because Mona’s face turned ashen white and she slumped lower to the ground dejectedly.

“You lie,” she whispered unconvincingly as if she were trying to persuade herself.

“Even in the alley a few hours ago, he spoke of your incompetence. Of your inability to make a young girl drink a drugged beverage.” Finally piecing together the facts,, I was starting to make sense of everything. After all, knowledge was power.

“You’re wrong. I will prove myself to him. I will.” With a final scream of desperation, Mona pulled on the thread of power and I saw Gloria on the bed gasp for breath and struggle.

“Stop her!” Joss and Nero yelled.

Without thinking, I too grabbed a thread of life, Mona’s, and squeezed. Mona struggled and refused to release her hold on Gloria, but she was no longer trying to kill her. Panting, she fell to the floor trembling but the thread linking her to Gloria was still there.

“What should we do?” Nero spoke as he had grabbed his wife and brushed her blonde hair with his hands in an attempt to comfort her, though she was still unconscious. “How can we break her control over her? I don’t know if she can survive another attack like that. It’s not something I can heal. She made Gloria stop breathing.”

“Kill her,” Hemi spoke up gruffly for the first time. “If you can't do it, I will.” To him it was a simple choice and not one that he would ever lose sleep over.

“What? No! We need her to find my sister,” Joss argued.

“Then get rid of her,” Hemi snapped.

“Where can we bring her that she won’t be able to hurt anyone else?”

“I know where.” And I did.

I gave instructions to Hemi and Darren and they re-gagged Mona and walked her out. They were taking her to Fanny’s to place her deep within her underground shield, but first they were going to drug Mona using the same techniques she used on us. She would be drugged and unable to reach any power within the shield, but the shield would also block her from reaching those outside of it.

A few minutes later later I saw the dark thread of power that was linked to Gloria vanish instantly, a sign that they had entered Fanny’s underground workroom. Gloria’s color returned and her breathing became more even. Now all we had to do was wait for the drug to work its way out of her system and the others that were in the main room.

Slowly, one by one, they regained control and every one of the guests affected wanted answers to what had happened. I promised Berry and Avina answers later and I left Joss and Nero to explain what they felt was appropriate to share to tell to the affronted guests.

Blindly, I made my way to my bedroom and crawled into bed and felt my eyes, heavy with fatigue, close as the first rays of morning sunshine entered my room. I was falling deep into sleep when a stray thought floated into my head before disappearing with the morning rays. Kael hadn’t returned.