Chapter Fifteen - Changes
Grasiella was feeling better. She would have to tell Kana’i thanks for bringing over the medicine. She had asked G for the necklace. She wanted to spend some time alone with it. After all, she took a life over this necklace. She took it out to the garden. Tatiana had disappeared with Kye. When he came by, he asked Grasiella how she felt. She wasn’t sure what to say around him now that she knew what he was. She wanted to ask him if he had told Tatiana what he was and if he told Tatiana just who his grandmother was.
She caught herself watching Tatiana to see if she gave anything away, not sure what exactly she was looking for. She would have to talk to her later, when they could talk in private.
Grasiella took the crystal into her hands. “Sita Knook,” she said. Grasiella got no response. “Someone has been trying to get to you, and I stopped her.”
The crystal unclouded, becoming clear. Grasiella could see a pair of eyes staring back at her.
“You’re going to stay in here where you belong.” Grasiella said, looking directly into the eyes.
The eyes blinked at her. They were as green as the hills that covered the island.
“How do you feel about that Sita Knook?”
Grasiella heard a voice respond to her question, “How does it feel to know that next time you won’t survive.”
“So you can talk? How were you able to make her come for you? You’ve been in here all this time.”
“She’s not the only one I can control from in here,” Sita responded confidently.
Learning this new information, Grasiella asked, “Who else do you control?”
“You and I had this talk once before.” The voice said calmly.
Grasiella was confused, “No, we haven’t.”
“You just don’t remember. That’s the problem with your kind. Always so forgetful, but I will tell you this.”
“What are you?” Grasiella asked.
“Grasiella, I will tell you this; for each day that is given we must take pause. Time is like a stream, ever flowing, never stopping. You can cross it or take a boat and ride it, but you can never control it for it is too elusive. Ever winding ever flowing, the waters may rise for a short time until they fall back down. Try to keep it still. Try to keep it from rising up on you, or you will drown or be carried further from the course of your hearts desire. If you flow with it, it will guide you for a time, but it will always be. You will only be for a while, but it will always be. I will always be.”
“What does any of that mean? What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense,” Grasiella responded, confusion showing in her face.
“Memory can be a tricky thing, Grasiella.”
“Why not just tell me what you are and stop with these games.”
“Why? This is much more enjoyable…something is being carried on the wind. It approaches you. I told you all that you need to know.”
“You haven’t told me anything.”
“Grasiella?” She heard her name called from behind her. It was Eros; he stood there at the entrance of the garden looking at her questionably. “Who are you talking too?”
Grasiella held the necklace in both her hands; he saw it sparkle at him. Eros knew instantly what she held. His eyes wondered around the garden. He saw that she was all alone. He knew this would be his chance to take the crystal. “What do you have there?” he asked his voice clear.
Grasiella closed her palms tightly over the crystal, “Just a necklace.”
He approached her. He was very handsome. The light hit his hair just right so that it shined in the sunlight. His blue eyes enchanted her. She couldn’t look away. He cast a charming smile as he held out his hand. “Can I see?”
She couldn’t understand why not. ‘He couldn’t know what it was so where was the harm,’ she told herself. She held out her palms, opening them to let him take the necklace from her.
Eros held the crystal between his thumb and forefinger as he looked it over.
Grasiella heard Tatiana and Kye enter the garden; she couldn’t take her gaze from Eros’ handsome face. She was entranced.
Tatiana saw the crystal in Eros hand, “What are you doing with that? Grasiella did you give that to him?”
Kye took a step forward, knowing immediately that Eros had what he had been looking for on the island. “Is that Sita Knook?” he asked.
Tatiana was taken back by his question, “What do you know about Sita Knook, Kye?”
Eros answered her question for Kye, “Hasn’t Kye told you about her? That he’s been helping me look for her.”
“You have?” Tatiana said as she turned to face Kye accusingly. “You knew about Sita Knook? Were you using me to get to her?”
“No, Tatiana. Eros is not telling you everything.” Kye knew then that Eros was using that yellow stone that he taken from Pele. He had enchanted Grasiella to give him the crystal.
“What else have you kept from her Kye? Does she know what you are? That you are the grandson of the fire goddess, Pele?” Eros goaded.
Tatiana became furious with Kye, “You kept this from me after I shared with you all about my abilities.”
“I would have told you if I could, Tatiana.”
While they were arguing, Eros took a step toward the exit of the garden. He was planning on taking the crystal so that he would be able to make his trade for his wife’s return.
Kye saw Eros make to leave the garden. “Don’t let him take it Grasiella!” Kye shouted to her, awaking her from her trance. She saw the crystal in Eros possession.
Eros summoned the skinny man from the window.
“Give it to me.” The skinny man said to him.
“Where is she?” Eros demanded.
The skinny man held up a relic. It was made out of ivory with deep symbols carved into it.
Eros knew what it was the skinny man held in his hands. He was about to summon the energy needed to release Sita Knook from her prison.
“You will not be going back on your word to me!” Eros shouted at him.
The skinny man cast his gaze onto Grasiella, “You better hope that Sita Knook was not harmed while under your families care.”
Eros grabbed the man by his shirt, “Where is my wife!”
“She is in the Volcano Kohala! You can find her there!”
“Eros,” Kye could not allow this exchange take place, “You told me what she was. You can’t let him release her!”
Eros released the skinny man from his grasp, “She had better be there.” He disappeared into the air. Eros didn’t much care what happened. His only concern was the welfare of his wife.
“Eros!” He had gone and Kye was left with the twins and this man who was holding the ivory relic in front of him as if it were a weapon. Kye had never seen anything like it before. He wasn’t quite sure what it was but he didn’t like it. “Leave,” he instructed the skinny man.
Grasiella saw that the crystal was in the hands of the skinny man. “Give that back to me,” Grasiella demanded from him.
“Let me, let you in on something,” he began to address them. He was so pleased with himself. “Sita Knook was wrongly kept imprisoned by your family. She came to this world to enlighten us and on the night of her arrival, your ancestor treated her no better than one of the Cinerians by trapping her in this crystal for over thousands of years!”
“Give me back the crystal.” Grasiella screamed, becoming somewhat hysterical.
“It should never have been created! I’m undoing a great wrong that your ancestor inflicted on poor Sita Knook!”
“Why did you send Mayrra after me?” she asked, stalling for time, desperately trying to think of a way to get the stone back.
“She took that upon herself. She got too impatient to wait for Eros to come through. She didn’t understand that we had a great motivator for him.” His face became blotchy as fury rose within, “You didn’t have to kill Mayrra!”
“She got what she deserved for att
acking my sister! She’s just lucky that I wasn’t there!”
“Soon none of you will matter, and Sita Knook will be free to inflict her justice upon your family for her unjust imprisonment.”
Grasiella began to feel sick. Her head was pounding. The voices of the others speaking were drowned out by the pounding in her head. It was happening again. She was about to lose control of her body. Something was coming to take over. She fought with it. She would not let whatever it was that wanted to enter do it again. The sadness, it was here. She felt it in the air. It was so strong.
Tatiana didn’t see what was happing to Grasiella. She was intent on getting the crystal back from that skinny man before he was able to do whatever he had planned. She listened as he had begun a chant. He held the ivory relic close to his chest. Tatiana nearly lunged on top of him, but he deflected her attack.
Kye caught her in his arms before she hit the ground, he yelled at her, “Stay put!”
“NO!” Tatiana pushed Kye away from her, “I trusted you with my secret! What an idiot I am!”
“It’s not just my secret Tatiana it’s my cousin, Kana’i’s secret too!”
The skinny man yelled at them to stop talking, he was almost finished with his chanting.
None of them saw the change that over took Grasiella. Her dark brown eyes became green as they opened to settle on the skinny man. She took one step forward grabbing the man by the arm that held the ivory relic. “Give it over to me,” the voice was not her own.
“It’s you!” he yelled out. “I know you! You were the one who entombed my Sita Knook! What happened that night had been passed down from generation to generation! Your men were shouting, celebrating their victory, and you where cheering them on! The faeries tried to get to Sita Knook and to you! The faeries tried to stop you!”
Grasiella reached to take the ivory relic from his hand. “This stops now!”
“It will stop when I am done!” The fight began.
Tatiana cried out and tried to run towards her sister to help her. Kye stopped her, holding her back. “Let me go!” she screamed.
Without listening to her Kye pushed her back. He then rushed the skinny man head on. He took the skinny man down with one blow.
The skinny man took a deep breathe of air, exhaling the air carried Kye away from him. He landed with a huge thud a few feet back.
The skinny man pulled a weapon from out of his pocket aiming it at Tatiana’s chest. She deflected his blow with a high screech. He fell back clutching his ears dropping to his knees.
Grasiella easily pulled the knife from his hand. She reached out to grab onto the blade. She felt the knife cut into her skin. Her knee went into his chest and she heard him cry out in pain. She turned the knife to hold it against his neck. “Go ahead and kill me like you did to her! All you know how to do is to end lives!”
“Shut up,” she said back. Kye stood at her side.
A huge explosion rippled through the air. The air was filled with an electric fire as Kye pulled Grasiella away from the skinny man, “This is not who you are Grasiella!” He looked into her eyes. Kye saw that they were a deep green. He nearly let her go, he was so taken aback, “Your eyes!”
Grasiella pushed him away from her. She went straight back to the skinny man who lay on the ground he was not moving.
Tatiana screamed. He was dead.
The crystal lay broken. It had splintered into many pieces. Standing above the dead skinny man’s body was a young girl. She was blonde and wore a white dress, a gold braided belt wrapped around her waist.
Her green eyes flickered, “It feels good to be here. I thank you all.” She sounded very pleasant.
Kye stepped in front of Tatiana in order to protect her. Grasiella took a step forward. She would not allow Sita Knook to leave the garden.
“Again we meet Grasiella. I did enjoy our talk earlier. Did you learn anything from it?” She gave Grasiella a brilliant smile. “Just who have I been talking to I wonder? Which Grasiella? Are you the Grasiella of today or the Grasiella of yesterday? I told you that memory was a tricky thing.”
“Memory means nothing to me.” Grasiella answered back. The look in her green eyes was deadly.
“Do you think it’s fair to take over your decedent’s body whenever you take a fancy to?”
Grasiella didn’t answer. She had taken a vow long ago to protect the people who lived on this planet from being enslaved.
“Didn’t you ever question where your family obtained your power from? It wasn’t born naturally I assure you.”
“What does that mean?” Tatiana asked worried for her sister who didn’t seem to be herself.
“All this time and you never learned its secret?”
“What secret?” Tatiana asked.
“Don’t talk to it Tatiana!” Grasiella yelled over her shoulder.
“Don’t be so rude!” Sita yelled back. “I will be kind enough to tell you Tatiana.” Kneeling down on her knees as she was about to share a secret with her, Sita said, “Your ancestor was no ordinary girl. She belonged to one of the Cinerians. She came by her powers from her mother, Limaik.”
“What?”
“Yes, it’s true. Her mother was one of them…one of the Cinerians. Which would make you one of them, wouldn’t it? How does that feel to you?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Grasiella said to Sita.
“You’ve always known this to be true. How else do you explain being the only humans to have such power? How was the faerie able to gift you with her power unless you were one of them? Do you think your army would have followed you had they known? They were being led by one of their enemies?” Sita let out a laugh. She enjoyed sharing this information with them.
Sita continued on, “Your mother, Grasiella, knew what she was risking. She let herself fall in love with your father, who was just a human. How boring, don’t you think? They thought they could hide their secret. You were an abomination, something that should never have been. They took Limaik’s life when they learned what she had done. But they could never find you.”
“I’m going to put you right back where you belong, Sita.” Grasiella didn’t want to hear any more.
Sita was not prepared to go against Grasiella just yet. She didn’t have the power to protect herself. She knew that she soon would. A flash of lightning shot throughout the sky, alerting Sita. “They’re coming.”
As the rain began to fall, Sita Knook vanished into the air.
She needed to go to the Volcano Kohala. There was something there that she needed to have. It held the only reason why she had decided to come to this world.
She had to obtain it before they arrived. Sita Knook had a small opening in order to pick up the Painite, before more of what the lightning carried, arrived on this planet. She was not ready for them.