Chapter Thirty-One – An Ancient Secret Unearthed
Relief washes through me as I realize the fighting is over, Andrew is still standing and I am in his arms! I cling to Jonathan’s medallion and rest my head against Andrew’s shoulder. Although the pain is excruciating, relief makes made me giddy.
We begin back. “Wait! You have to get Marcus!” Remembering his loss, my eyes fill with tears. “He’s by the lake.”
Gabriel and Jackson disappear and then rejoin us carrying Marcus’ body.
Andrew places me in a room. Eva enters carrying a syringe. “Mia we have to reset the shoulder, repair the break and take some x-rays, I suspect you have broken ribs. She plunges the needle into my arm and within moments I become drowsy.
Andrew is at my ear. “Sleep, I will speed up the healing process as much as possible. I love you.” Stroking my cheek, his cool lips brush mine tenderly. His words and his kiss jump start my heart.
As my eyes droop, I see Eva looking disapprovingly at him. “That might not be a good idea. We need her to relax, not burn up the morphine with her overactive adrenaline.”
He sports a wicked grin, kissing me once more and is out the door.
In the fog of my escaping consciousness, my fingers wrap tightly around Jonathan’s pendant. When I wake, Andrew is stroking my cheek. Looking at him now is slightly strange. His face is still the most perfect I have ever gazed upon, but his once brilliant sky blue eyes, now sport a shade of evening mist and his raven hair is a softer darkened brown. I see them both in his features. I see the man of my images, only slightly paler. Regardless of the change, I am sure that his soul is more beautiful now that it is whole and that my love for him has grown only stronger knowing how quickly he could have been lost to me.
“I love you.” My voice is weak as I fight to keep my eyes open and for the first time notice his eyes are sad.
“I love you too. I’m only sorry I trapped you in our fate Mia! Michael was wrong! We are all still here.” Removing the pendant from under his shirt, I see all three corners alight.
I smile. “You didn’t!” I let Jonathan’s pendant fall from my grasp. “I have the key!”
“Mia what are you talking about, you have his pendant.”
I struggle to right myself, the residue of the morphine makes me want to go back to sleep. “When Jonathan and Nicholas were rolling around on the ground, I saw their chains intertwine and pendants clink. After hitting several times, Nicholas’ light was released from the pendant’s hold and was thrust into him. As it entered him, he looked as if he was almost knocked over.
Andrew stares at Jonathan’s pendant twisting it in his hands. “I wonder.” He touches it to his, once twice, three times, but nothing happens. Removing his chain, he clinks them together, holding them in perfect alignment, still nothing. Frustration and disappointment show in his features.
“Andrew, I know what I saw. The light definitely left the pendant and entered Nicholas.”
“I believe you and I can see the change in my pendant. But it just doesn’t seem to be working now!”
“They said we found the key. It has to have something to do with what I saw.”
Hearing the disappointment in my voice, he strokes my cheek. “Mia, I’m sorry, you saved me from being thrust into an eternity in darkness serving him today, but I have entrapped you!” His voice fills with emotion and his eyes become unendurably sad as he stares at the pendant, stroking the additional light with his thumb.
“Andrew you are not condemning me, you are giving me the greatest gift, your love.” I say slowly, deliberately.
“I do love you! I just...” I bring my finger to his lips.
“Stop, don’t give up hope. No matter what results, I don’t regret anything, so don’t you?”
He kisses me gently before we return to staring at the pendants. I close my eyes trying to recall each detail and recall how Nicholas’ pendant only encased one light. I wonder if Jonathan’s really contained his mother’s and Lucy’s or if it too was an illusion, but now all the chambers are dark. I ask Andrew, but he never really noticed.
“Can you get Jackson? We were talking about all of the connections, maybe he can help.” Andrew disappears and returns with Jackson.
“Andrew filled me in on what you saw happen and what he’s tried...” Before Jackson can finish, Gabriel comes in.
“Mia, I think you’re right about the pendants being connected. Michael did say we found the key to our freedom. He couldn’t have been mistaken! Maybe we are just using them improperly.”
He removes his pendant, clinks it with Jonathan’s but then gasps, dropping Jonathan’s pendant on the bed and staring at his shocked.
“What’s wrong?”
He turns his pendant revealing a third illumination. Stroking it gently, his eyes become unfocused. Andrew appears just as bemused about this development. Andrew stands, putting his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder bringing him back. “I don’t understand! It didn’t catch her. I stared at the pendant for months.” Picking up Jonathan’s pendant, he touches it to his again, nothing happens. Andrew’s pendant is still lying on the bed when Gabriel slams his and Jonathan’s down in frustration. “I just don’t understand this! I thought we had answers and now there are only more questions.” He paces and mutters something I cannot hear.
Looking down at the bed, Andrew and Gabriel’s pendants are touching, their lights brighter. “Look at the pendants!” All eyes shift. Gabriel and Andrew pick them up and their lights dim. “Hold them together!” I screech excited. Clutching them together firmly, a glow escapes from between their hands. All of a sudden, I feel as if someone punched me in the chest, knocking all the air out of my lungs, but no one touched me. Andrew and Gabriel recoil from each other as if they have just pushed one another and fall to the floor.
Jackson gapes at me. “How are you feeling?”
My chest no longer hurts. “I feel fine.”
He helps Andrew and Gabriel back to their feet. As they open their hands, all the lights in their pendants are gone. The chambers are empty and black!
“That’s it!” Andrew’s features register his shock. “Get everyone now!”
Jackson and Gabriel disappear. Andrew lifts me off the bed swinging me around. “We did it! You did it! We are actually free!” He is euphoric and kisses me fiercely sending such a charged lightning bolt through my entire system, my heart pushes against my ribs, my pulse races wildly and my body feels as if someone electrically shocked me. I grasp him with my good arm, kissing him with all the intensity of my charge, he shudders, pulling me tighter to his chest, despite my awkward cast.
As the others come in, Andrew places me gently on the bed before turning to his siblings. His face beams with excitement and I know it’s because he may finally see his family at peace and free. “Eva, Serena sit down and take off your pendants, Jackson, Damian sit next to them. Hold your pendants together make sure your lights match up.” We watch, each holding our breath as their hands clasp the aligned pendants together tightly. Nothing happens.
Andrew features reveal his bemusement. “Are you sure they’re aligned?”
Eva answers, her eyes never leaving their hands. “Yes”
“What are we missing?” I can see him ticking off what he and Gabriel did in his head and comparing it to what he observed and then he grabs Jonathan’s pendant thrusting it toward Eva. “Align your pendant with Jonathan’s.” He turns to Serena. “Then you do the same before aligning each of yours again.”
As they join their pendants, the room is perfectly silent, the tension and anticipation is palpable. Light escapes from their hands, they are thrown back on their chairs and when they open their hands, the pendants are dark. Francis and Catherine follow the same sequence and they too are released.
Their perfect pale porcelain faces are frozen. Only their astounded eyes glance from each other to the pendants which once served as their prison. Each astonished, the
y stand speechless as a light in the corner of the room grows brighter, drawing everyone from their stunned silence. In the glow, stands a beautiful woman her hair sandy brown and her eyes sea foam. She looks upon them with such love; it can only be their mother. “Thank you. I love you so very much! I can’t stay, but know that your father and I are happy and grateful. I must warn you, use your powers for good. Losing this battle will make him fierce! Although you can never escape his transformation, that will not satisfy him. He is not done trying to claim you, especially now! Be strong and be happy.” The light disappears.
“Where’s Lucy?” Jackson finally inquires.
“Could she have disappeared with Jonathan?” Catherine asks.
“I don’t think so.” Eva replies.
“We should see if we can find her. She might be afraid to see any of us because of what Jonathan was. She can’t be made to feel alone.” Francis sounds worried.
They leave and Andrew sits by me. I can tell he is still shocked as his fingers brush the pendants lying on the bed. Now that the spike of adrenaline from this newest development ebbs, I feel exhausted, world weary and the morphine is making my eyes close. “Has saving a family from eternal damnation exhausted you?” He teases. His face glows with his absolute relief and joy. He is so beautiful and for the first time ever appears to be a man of his age, not weighted by worry of his family suffering because he could not save them. He kisses me tenderly and whispers. “Rest my rescuing and beautiful angel. I should tell Martin and Suzanne about your accident and see if they need anything. I’ll be right back.”
When I open my eyes again, Andrew is holding my hand. Sun fills the room. His smile is so genuine, his face absolutely glows. “Are you up for some company?” Figuring he means the twins, I nod. Gabriel and a beautiful dark haired woman with a pale complexion and soft brown eyes enter.
By the way Gabriel stares at her, kissing their intertwined hands, I can’t help but smile surmising who she is, but await his confirmation. “Mia I would like you to meet Martina.” His voice is filled with love.
I smile widely. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“It’s a miracle to meet you! Thank you just doesn’t seem enough.” Her voice is filled with gratitude.
Without releasing her, Gabriel hugs me. “Thank you!” His eyes are so happy. “We’ll see you later.”
“How did this happen?”
“It was all part of Jonathan’s deception. Martina was being veiled as Lucy. When Gabriel didn’t destroy himself, Jonathan hoped he would eventually move on so that he could reveal the deception causing Gabriel to kill himself over the guilt of moving forward while Martina watched helplessly. Martina has been forced to watch Gabriel suffer, knowing all that Jonathan had done, knowing that he was never part of our family and Gabriel is my twin. We found her locked in a closet, with a stake in her heart in the restricted building.”
“He must have staked her when I ran into him on the road that day, when Nicholas saved me. How could he? I can’t even fathom how Gabriel would feel if he did fall in love again or how Martina would feel watching it unfold.”
Andrew takes my face in his cool hands, staring at me intently. His voice is soft and earnest. “You can’t imagine such behavior because you are beautiful inside and out! Now will you believe me?” Leaning in to kiss me, his lips send my heart beating wildly. “I’m just blessed that you happened to cross my life in your travels.”
A question pops to mind. “When did you get back, what happened at the hospital?”
A look of anger crosses his face. “Nothing happened at the hospital! It was all part of the deception. He was hoping that if we were gone, Jonathan could get you into a position where you would be helpless, commit to killing yourself or be fooled into committing to the darkness thinking that you were saving Edward.”
Fear seizes my heart for my family. “Are they alright?”
His eyes turn soft. “I spoke to them. They are safe and now so are you!”
“When did you return?”
“We didn’t make it all the way. After a few hours in the air I finally reached father Montague who runs the hospital for us. He said that everything was fine there. As soon as we put it together we turned the plane around. Heading back here, we noticed the activity in the woods, so we ditched the vehicles and scoped out what was happening. I ran into Nicholas when he was searching for Jackson. I am the one who frustrated you by covering the mouthpiece.” He laughs. “I couldn’t risk you hearing my voice. We had to let them think that they had successfully gotten us away and could proceed with their plan. It appears that you, Jackson and Nicholas were getting too close to the truth and he had to stop it and claim you before well, this happened. It almost worked. Even knowing that something was going on and we were being duped, when I thought that Nicholas was going to kill you, I would have never let him live if you died! He almost got everything he wanted.”
I put my hand up to his lips. “Don’t talk like that. I could never think of you hurting yourself, especially over me.” I shake my head to dispel the image of him killing himself by killing Nicholas. Looking at him, I search his eyes, but they do not reveal the answer to my unspoken question. “How are you feeling really?”
He ponders my question. With each tick of the clock, I wonder if he’s concerned that he has changed too much to even admit it to himself. He hesitantly answers. “I can’t really explain it, but I always felt that there was something missing, a part of me that was lost. I put it off to what we lost during our transformation, but now I realize that it was the Nicholas part of me. While the others wavered back and forth about the right path to follow, I always felt as if I had no choice, no doubt in the course that was set for me, not realizing that I was actually watching a part of me struggle with that very issue. Then when Nicholas and I were on different paths, the way his actions made me feel weak, vulnerable and doubtful always made me wonder what would happen if his actions consumed me, changed me. Then you touched him.” The love and wonder shining in his eyes as they stare into mine makes me breathless. “I felt and heard what you said to him when he was beginning to figure it out, when he asked you if you could love me if his personality was a part of me too. You didn’t even hesitate. Knowing what you suffered because of his …no… my actions, I have to ask why?”
Looking into the depths of his shining eyes, it is as if I can see his beautiful soul. “I didn’t hesitate because I love you!” Picking up his hand with my good hand, I stroke his knuckles with my thumb. “Living the life I have, I realize that no one is perfect all of the time. We all struggle, but even as Nicholas, I mean you…” I’m getting confused. “Even the Nicholas part of you strived to do the right thing in the end. Isn’t that really all anyone can ask of another is to try?”
His eyes shine with admiration. “You really are remarkable and one of a kind.”
A stray sunbeam hits my leg and I can feel the warmth. “Let’s go outside, it looks like a beautiful day. I think we have had quite enough of closed rooms and darkness.”
“It is a beautiful day isn’t it.” He lifts me in his arms and kisses me tenderly before we go outside. Sitting on a bench, I catch sight of how his eyes, now reflecting the color of a deep ocean, shimmer just before he dons his sunglasses. The heat feels wonderful. Leaning into his side, I feel so happy. He takes my hand and his gentle touch tells me I am home. His lips brush my cheek, stopping at my ear. “I love you Mia!” His voice choked with all the emotion he’s been holding back.
“I love you too!” I kiss him.
Someone clears their throat. Looking up, William is holding a painting. “This is for you Dr. Angelis” I finally finished it. The picture is of me the day we were at the lake, but my face is flawless porcelain and there is a hint of a perfect glow radiating around me.
“Thank you it’s beautiful.”
“Well that’s how you look to me and I have a feeling to someone else as well.” He nods towards And
rew who laughs. “You’re absolutely right William.”
“I hope that you’re feeling better soon doc. I’ll see you later.
I stare at the painting recognizing that my features strongly resembled Andrew’s. He smiles at me. “It’s a very realistic depiction. I will always see you as my guardian angel.” He says soulfully.
We enjoy the beautiful sunshine. “So what will you do now?”
“Just because we have been freed doesn’t mean that he is no longer a threat to mankind or to the people here. This place has been an amazing sanctuary for us and for all of those that we have kept safe. Now that we can all work in harmony, maybe we can expand out to others without the fear that each of us might choose the wrong path and undermine us all.”
His look changes, his eyes are darker, wanting, making the butterflies in my stomach take flight. He shifts facing me. “Mia, I know that I’m still not human and could never offer you a normal life, but I love you more than I ever imagined possible! I know I have put you through some unbelievably surreal experiences and that the monster I am caused you to suffer a considerable loss, but I’m hoping that you can forgive me because I want to be a part of the rest of your life.” His tone turns nervous. “I know I may be asking too much considering what has happened and knowing that since we thwarted his plans, we will never be off of his list...” I interrupt him.
“I’m sure that he is not done with me either.” As I say the words, I know how true they are.
“With everything you endured, you became stronger. I am optimistic for the first time in my existence that he may not prevail the way he hoped! Still, considering the part of him I can never escape, I know that I’m asking a lot. I would understand if you wanted to walk away, but if by some miracle you could stand all of this ancient mysticism and warring factions, I’m hoping that you will agree to spend the rest of your life with me. I love you and need you in my life!” His eyes are beseeching, his tone pleading.
I’m stunned that he could be so uncertain as to my choice after all the times I told him I would not be forced to leave him. I wrap my good hand around his strong neck pulling myself up to his lips. “I don’t want to be anywhere but next to the one I love! I need you too. I can’t exist without you!”
He brushes his perfect lips across my cheek and hugs me gently, but then his embrace becomes ardent, his lips lock with mine and I can feel the heat rise within me as I’m nestled in his sculpted chest. I have finally found a place where I belong and the one who belongs with me. Although each of us knows that he is not finished with any of us, he no longer has the strong hold on them that he had hoped and that could keep us apart. We will face whatever the future has in store together, hand in hand.