Ariella
…Wake up...
I open my eyes, feeling disorientated as hell. My magic is swarming inside me, too. I look beside me at Davonyé but he's fine – still asleep. I sit up and take a minute to wake up fully so I can understand the reason why I’ve been forced to wake.
There must be a reason.
It's just after nine in the morning, so I listen out for any knocks on my door or anyone coming into the house, but I can't sense anyone, only my dad’s wares that surround the house.
My eyes scan the room and settle on the dresser.
Something there.
A nagging feeling settles inside my stomach as I make my way over to it. Davonyé's phone is the only thing here. And its dead.
I hook it up to charge and sit beside Davonyé on the bed to wait a few minutes so I can switch it on.
I finally power it up and then swipe it open, but it's locked, so I use Davonyé's finger to unlock it.
Shit... So many missed calls...
It vibrates in my hand as Tinashe cell comes up on the screen.
I answer. “Hello?”
“Ariella?” she asks, crying hysterically.
My stomach turns. “Yeah, it’s me. What’s wrong?”
“Clarisha never came back from the store last night, so Kenyay and Marron went out to look for her around midnight... None of them have come back, and Marron felt much further away than he should’ve before I stopped feeling him… I don’t know what to do…”
“What? Where are you?” I look down at Davonyé and feel awful.
“At Clarisha’s in Barrow.”
I suddenly see Tinashe’s life in memories all at once and I grasp onto anything I feel I need to in order to make a decision about what I'm gonna do next.
She's good. I can trust her.
I dress into a jeans and tee before making sure it's safe to go to her. She's sitting at the kitchen table, holding her phone to her ear, but she turns to look up at me and then almost jumps out of her seat to growl at me.
“It's me; Ariella!” I hold my hands out. “It's me, Tinashe.” Shit, please calm down…
She looks at her phone and then back to me. I can feel her heart racing. She's already scared, and I didn't help. She looks so much like Davonyé… Damn. The resemblance is striking, but she’s a much shorter version. She’s beautiful, though, and those red braids that are tied into a bun on top of her head really suit her dark complexion.
I feel her calm. “How?”
“I'll explain when we get back to mine.” I leave a note on the table.
If you see this, call me. Tinashe.
I take her back to my kitchen with just her phone in her hand; I’ll just magic her clothes and anything else she needs while she’s here.
She looks around and almost looks pale. “Where are we?” She reaches for a chair at the table before slowly sitting down.
“Canada. At my house.” I open the kitchen window. “Mom, Dad, I have Davonyé's sister here. You need to come over.”
“We're coming, Sweetheart,” I hear Mom, so I shut the window again. “Do you want a drink? I have Absinthe here.”
She nods. “Please.”
Her emotions are all over the place and I feel sad for her.
“Is that Vonyé?” she asks when I pass her the glass of Absinthe.
“If you're talking about that scent, then yeah, that's him.” I smile but I swear I can't help that shit. He is smelling good as fuckin’ hell.
Her eyes widen. “Damn, is he...?”
“Yeah.” Ugh... I bite my lip to stop my smile. I need to calm the fuck down. That's her brother up there.
She suddenly smiles and I feel her anxiety lessen. “How long’s he got left?”
Too damn long. I’m keeping my shit together on the outside cuz I’ve been busy, but inside… I’m dyin’ without him. “A little over fourteen hours.
She sips her drink. “I bet you can't wait.”
I sit down at the table with her. “I miss him like crazy. He's literally become my life overnight.”
“Vonyé’s a really good guy, Ariella. I'm glad he's with someone like you.”
I frown. “Like me?”
“Yeah. You don't know how relieved we were to know that he'll always be protected, y’know? Clarisha and I love him to death.”
We both look towards the door as it opens, and then Mom and Dad quickly walk into the kitchen.
“Tinashe, these are my parents. Abriya and Claren—”
I frown because she races off her chair to kneel on the kitchen floor.
“Sovereigns,” she gushes, looking at the ground. Awe is the emotion I get from her now.
“Uh… This is Tinashe, Davonyé’s little sister.”
Mom and dad give me a bewildered glance, but mom soon steps over to Tinashe to help her up. “You don’t have to do that, Tinashe. We’re basically family now.”
Tinashe just stares at them in turn, like she don't know which one to focus on. “It’s such an honour to meet you. I can't believe I'm in the same room as you. You’re legends.”
Dad looks a bit lost. I smirk.
“We’re really just normal people,” Mom replies, but she’s still smiling. “Come, sit down.” She steers Tinashe back towards her chair before we all sit down at the table, too.
“I went and got her from Alaska. She called Davonyé’s phone. Clarisha and both their husbands have gone missing. I saw all her memories. She's good,” I add, to reassure them.
I would never risk bringing anyone here that we couldn’t trust. Especially now that Amarey’s here.
“We were going to send wares to you today,” Mom tells her. “We were concerned about you after Davonyé told us what you said about Maximus.”
She starts to cry. “I didn't go after them when I had the chance… when I could feel Marron still... I was scared. I'm such a bad mate...”
“You’re not,” Dad says. “You'd be no use to them if you'd gotten yourself caught, too. They're definitely missing?”
She nods and wipes her face. “There's no way they’re not. They wouldn’t have left me like that.”
I pass her some tissues. She frowns but keeps crying.
“So that must mean they're in Barrow, or at least close,” Mom says, deep in thought.
I wish I'd met Clarisha before now so that I had access to her memories. I guess I could only see Davonyé’s father’s memories because he’s no longer alive. Fuck sake.
Mom and dad look at each other before looking back at Tinashe. “We'll start sending wares out there.” Mom looks at me. “I know you won't wanna leave Davonyé, so we'll leave tonight once he wakes up.”
“What about Amarey?”
“Asha will stay with him.”
I feel mom getting worried and wonder if she's nervous about trying to express enough milk for him again.
“I don’t think any of us need to go yet. I think we need to get a select number of Dad’s men together and send them up there. Once they get a scent, I can get us all there straight away.”
Mom and dad look at each other again and I really wish I could hear everyone’s thoughts now.
“Alright,” Dad says. “We’ll send them now, but if we hear anything at all that can lead us to him, we have to go.”
I nod. “Definitely.”
***
I settle Tinashe in the spare room after she looks in on her brother. I fill the wardrobe and draws with clothes for her and then run her a bath. I can feel her stress, but there's nothing she can do, so that's something she’ll have to deal with internally.
I find out what toiletries and other things she uses and make sure the bathroom has everything she needs before I go back into the bedroom. She’s sitting on the edge of the bed with her cell in her hand, but her eyes are staring into nothingness.
“Can I get you anything else?”
She blinks before looking up at me. “Do you have a charger? I wanna keep my phone charged just in case one of them get free.”
I hand her one and she gives me another look. “Forgive me for asking, but do you have magic, or am I losing my mind?”
I sit on the bed beside her. “You’re not losing your mind. I'm an Elder.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh my God, that is crazy.”
I smile. “Yeah.”
“Does Vonyé know?”
“Yeah, course. He's been amazing about it all.”
She looks deep in thought. “Yeah, that sounds like Von.”
“Have you told your mom?”
She shakes her head and I feel her mood plummet. “No... I can't... I'm hoping I never have to. She wouldn't cope with losing a child. She barely survived losing my dad.”
“I agree. You’re right not to tell her yet. We'll do everything we can to find them. I promise you that.”
“Thank you, Ariella. I really appreciate all this. I dunno what I woulda done if you hadn’t come.”
“My job is to look after all wares, but what my mom said is true; you’re all family now, Tinashe, and we’ll do everything we can to protect all of you.”
I know how close Davonyé’s family is, too. They’ve been through enough, so if I can do anything to protect them, I’m gonna do it.
“Well, I’m still grateful.”
“And you’re welcome. Are you gonna be okay here on your own for a bit? I need to go next door.”
“Yeah sure. I'm gonna try get some sleep anyways.”
“Alright.” I'm kinda glad she's here so that Davonyé's not on his own. “I'll be back soon.”