Chapter 26

November 25, 2000 – noon

"In his letter, my dad said that they wanted to get away from Lord Meozo, they even hid in Egypt for a few months… but what happened? Many clans keep telling me that I should continue what they started, and others are saying that they got killed because they worked for him. Honestly, I ended up signing with the EBEE to go against those telling me I should take over what they started, and it made me question whether they truly wanted to get away from him. What were they standing for, exactly?"

"Who talked to you? If you spoke with the Swamtons or anyone in Anita's family… don't trust anything coming out of their mouth, they're the worst type of shady. Your dad was right: they wanted to hide from him. Dawn could tell you more about your dad, but I do know that he never went to an elemental school. His father kept telling him he needed to refrain from using his inner energy as much as possible and not to mark his mate, but never said why."

Coralis didn't touch the food and didn't bother to ask what was in the pitcher, but kept looking at it. She didn't know her father had never been to a school and wondered what else she'd find out about him. She also wondered why he was told not to mark his mate.

"Me and Anita went to school together, in the UK. We grew up in Scotland. Her family, along with many fay and elf families, was involved in a movement trying to overpower humans. Anita wanted nothing to do with it and even considered taking a human boyfriend just to piss her family off, but she didn't. After we graduated from school, they started working for Lord Meozo and moved to Montreal to establish a supporter base."

"Mom wouldn't have minded me bringing home a human boyfriend," she thought, keeping her mind walls up.

"Three years later, I came to Montreal to spend the summer with Anita. We went to a lot of rallies, but would always stand in the back of the room. She met your dad there. From my understanding, he was tired of his family trying to hide him, so he was intrigued by Lord Meozo's message. Lord Meozo never cared about humans, he only wanted power, but Anita's siblings… kept working against them and were using Lord Meozo's rally to expand their influence."

"Just like you all tried to hide me. Hiding isn't helping anyone. It never protected me."

Dorothy got up to grab more tissues.

"I can see that, now. When Lord Meozo sensed that your dad was a spirit mage, ooh how much he wanted him. The rallies didn't convince him to join their cause, but he wanted your mom and didn't want to get on her family's bad side, so he ended up joining. When Anita found out she was pregnant with you, they made preparations to go hide in your dad's Temple, but they knew they wouldn't be able to stay there forever."

Listening to Dorothy, Coralis realized that if she were to continue her relationship with Frank, she wouldn't be able to keep the truth about herself hidden from him for long, and him hidden from her foes.

"Meanwhile, I made some friends among the CMMA and helped them set a trap to capture Lord Meozo. I tried to spare your parents, but they deemed your dad too dangerous and your mom's family was too close to him. I think the CMMA would have spared them, but the EBEE were firmly against it. It all happened so fast. You were only a week old. EBEE and CMMA agents just flooded the room and killed everyone in there, but me."

Dorothy stopped talking for a minute, sobbing.

"I knew… I knew if his associates and the clans working for him found out about what I had done, and how I betrayed them, they would all come after me. I was willing to take that risk but didn't want them to take you or kill you, so I requested to have my guardianship to you dissolved, thinking the CMMA and EBEE had to hide you. Clearly, that failed, they found you anyway. I'm so, so, sorry."

Dorothy hid her face in her hands and cried. Her body was shaking. Coralis didn't know what to say. It was a lot to take in. She wanted to stay mad at Dorothy for her part in getting her parents killed, and for abandoning her, but she couldn't: she understood why she did what she did. Coralis got up and went to sit on the armrest to Dorothy's right and hugged her.

"I'm not mad for what you've done. You did what you thought you had to do at the time. I have been mad at my parents for the longest time and didn't want to talk to you when I first read my dad's letter. I now understand why you chose to let me go and will not hold it against you."

Coralis grabbed a mini-sandwich and returned to sit on the couch.

"Thank you. You, telling me that means so, so much to me. How… how did they find you?"

Coralis told her about the attack on Julian Dewarp at school, about the demons, about the groups who tried to approach her, leading her to accept the EBEE offer, and about the clans rising again against humans. She wanted to tell her about Nadilla and almost did, but decided against it.

"Anita was so afraid that Lord Meozo would ever find out about your birth name, and so was your dad. He wanted her to bring you to him that night, but your dad intervened and the meeting started. The next day, I tried to reach out to Dawn, to see if she could take you, but I got no response. A few months later, I found out that Lord Meozo intercepted her in Alexandria the day after we left the Temple. She didn't want to tell him anything, but he searched her mind, found that information and stole all of her elemental essence as punishment for resisting him."

"That's how he knew."

"Dear, please, keep resisting these lunatics. Trust me, your parents would be so, so proud of you."

They spoke a little more about the current situation in the supernatural world. At some point, Coralis looked at the clock above the fireplace: 15:23.

"I'm sorry, I need to get going. I've got plans for tonight," Coralis said as she got up.

"I just have one more question before you go. I keep hearing about you and the vampire princess: are you two together or is it a cover to keep some lunatics away?"

Coralis didn't tell her about Frank. She didn't know the people she talked to, and she had to protect Frank at all costs.

"Between Princess Veronica and the Swamtons, who want to push Ollyo down my throat… the choice isn't hard to make!"