Page 45 of Heart Shaped Wreckage
“Gula? The prophecy doesn’t say what it is I have to do with the feather.”
“It doesn’t, does it? Huh? If there were only a bird that could help you with this somewhere? Maybe you met one?”
“Thoth. We met Thoth in the desert.”
“I’m a being of the ground, even if I am a healer. I am helping him, young one, and keeping him tethered to us. But this is a healing borne of the oldest magics. We need Thoth.”
I held up the stones, and a portal opened in front of me. I was getting way too used to this. I walked through and found myself back in the desert. Thoth stood on a rock and stared at me.
“You came back? Is that a good thing, or is it time?”
“I think it’s time.”
“You have no idea what has happened, child. The changes that are afoot because of your silliness. If you hadn’t forgotten who you are, none of this would have ever happened. Heath would be going about his normal business and living the life he chose. Now, the choices become ones that are unbearable. But it is what it is. It was always foreseen.”
He hopped down off of his rock and stood in front of me.
“What do you mean?”
“Do we have time for me to give you the thesis on chaos theory? A choice is made, and that choice ripples across the universe. You made a choice that changed an essential part of you, and now that change has caused all of this to happen. Of course, you did have a little help.”
“The cat?” I hissed.
“He likes to help, in his own way. Chances are it would have happened anyway, because when fate decrees something to happen, it always does.”
“I need your help. I have a feather.”
“Is it a magical feather? Does it sing and dance?”
“I plucked it from an angel.”
“Did you? Huh? You have more meddle than I assumed. You might be the first human to ever… No, there was one other. He’s very dead now.”
“Will you come? Heath needs you.”
“I have always been destined to be there. Step through your portal and you will see.”
I raised the stones, and the portal appeared. I stepped back through to find Moon Cat sitting on Heath’s chest. Gula stayed curled next to his side, and at his head stood Thoth as he fluffed his feathers with his beak.
“We’re all here, except for one. Where’s Morganna? It’s her essence and the moon tides that will help him the most as she helps to heal the beast inside.” Thoth quacked at me loudly.
“I know…” I sighed.
I raised the stones, and once again a portal opened. Morganna stood in the moonlight, waiting for me beside one of the trees that we had destroyed in our fight with Aurelius.
“I shouldn’t let you back into my forest. I protect this sacred realm above all costs. It is one of the last magical spaces left in this world. Humanity has destroyed the rest with their fear and religious fervor.”
“We did not come here of our own volition, good lady. The sand portal brought us here.”
“But you used fire in my forest. It is the one thing that all growing things fear. This tree was once majestic, and now… No matter how old and long it had survived, all it took was one blast from you, boy witch.”
“I am sorry. I did not think about the consequences.”
“No, you only thought about your love. It’s the reason I have allowed you to return instead of closing Eire to you. I, too, must see through my end of the agreement.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fate calls all, child. I have had a part to play in this farce from the beginning. Take me to him, and I will help him heal. I hope he is strong enough to do what must be done, or this has all been for naught.”
