Page 49 of Messenger of Death
“You can’t really do what we did. Harami and Hemlock were the most powerful beings in Fairy. We didn’t have the magic to fight back. The location of the gateways between Fairy and otherrealms was kept among the elders. Harami and Hemlock were trying to find the gateways to get back to this realm so Harami could have his revenge.
“Hemlock had already destroyed a lot of Fairy. The elders made a plan to gather seeds, animals, and fairies and escape into this realm, but trap Harami and Hemlock in Fairy. That should have been the end of them. Even though we never spoke their names again, theyshouldn’thave come back.
“You can only reincarnate in the same place as your bones. No one alive back then would have let them out, so they would have died in Fairy, eventually. Hemlock destroyed most of the things they could have eaten and we brought a lot of the animals with us. There wasn’t much left in Fairy for them or any children they might have had and their line would have died out ages ago because no one was left in Fairy except for them.”
“So, how are they here now?” Saffron asked.
Exactly. Not even Saffron knew all of this, so it was a pretty big fairy secret. I had a feeling the only reason Scorpia let Saffron sit in on all of this despite not being an elder was because she either thought Saffron would be an elder one day or she just wanted to keep her safe.
“The gateways are sealed and still a secret, but an elder or someone who knows how could open them. We’ve put out the word going back is an instant death sentence, but we really don’t know. There could be an entire society there built off incest or it could be completely empty.
“Most of us think we shouldn’t risk it. There are many types of fairies and we are scattered across this entire realm. Each group has their own elders. Some fairies can’t blend with humans. They are limited to supernatural communities and we’re constantly fighting with humans about nature being cut down and turned into an apartment complex or a shopping center.
“There are some elders who think we should send a team to Fairy to see what’s going on. They think if it’s empty and nature has rebounded, we should go back. No one has specifically said they’ve gone back to get the lay of the land, but if they found their bones and moved them out of Fairy, that person would have thought they were making Fairy safe for us. Being an elder can drive anyone mad. I’m just guessing this is how Harami and Hemlock are back in this realm.”
“They would be freshman, so someone would have had to have removed the bones at least eighteen or nineteen years ago. Why haven’t they said anything about the state of Fairy?” Saffron asked.
“Let me look into that part. You let the reincarnations figure out who Harami and Hemlock are in this life and deal with it.”
“Um, how are we supposed to deal with it?” I asked. “I wouldn’t know how to fight any of that. I thought maybe Alexios was their weakness because he’s a sun god.”
“He very well could be. Trust your gut. There are more of you than them and that’s going to be your best bet beating them. I’d avoid trying to banish them again because that was detrimental to our home, but you all have different magic and magic we didn’t have when they ended up in Fairy.”
I needed help. I needed peoplemucholder and smarter than me. The fairy elders hadn’t been able to connect Harami to a pantheon and who he was before he was banished.
Maybe the professors at Ouroboros Academy could.
We picked the guys up in town and headed back towards the academy. Liam had a cup of ice with him he kept sucking on and he was shifting in his seat. I was dying to know what they did, so I asked.
“Liam had an idea to get our testicles waxed,” Khalid growled.
“What?”
“Worth it,” Liam slurred.
“Liam and I got waxed while Khalid got his nails done. You weren’t back yet, so Liam dragged us across the street and got his tongue pierced.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“Yeti pubes and eating pussy,” Liam lisped.
“Um, okay, but none of you have Yeti pubes, so I’m confused.”
“Shh,” Liam said, pressing his finger over my lips. “Just be grateful.”
“If you say so. We need to grab Headmaster Mykene, Professor Kane, and Professor Gefn when we get back.”
They knew better than to ask what I’d heard. I couldn’t talk about it in front of the ride share driver. We waited until we got back. Khalid and Liam went to get Professor Kane. Lucian picked me up and used his vampire speed to get me to Headmaster Mykene’s office, then zipped off to get Ivar, Ari, Alexios, and Professor Gefn.
When we were all seated, I launched into everything about Harami and Hemlock. No one spoke until I was done.
“So, the fairy elders haven’t been able to narrow Harami down to a single pantheon, so I’m not sure we have much to go on.”
Professor Kane pushed her glasses up her nose.
“Harami means sinner, dishonest person, or illegitimate child in some languages, but it’s also a type of candle in others.”
“It’s also a kind of meat served at a Japanese BBQ,” Liam said. It sounded like he had a mouth full of marbles.
