Chapter 6

Two Moms

Restated trigger warning: brief mentions of claims of abuse (mentions only, false claims— they're not true, wanted to mark it just in case and to give a head's up)

"Arcane killed Freedom?" I ask.

"Yeah," Phoenix replies flatly.

"What do you mean by that?" Brook presses.

Phoenix snorts. "I mean that Freedom was alive, and then Arcane made it not that way. Why do you care about that?"

"When did Freedom die?"

"Like sixty years ago." Phoenix shrugs and flicks his tail. "Now, let's be done with that and let's get moving to find Arcane. Grey, you're carrying Ky. If you hurt one hair on his body, I am ending you. I don't give a shit about your healing powers. I will hurt you more than they can heal you for, and then I will kill you. I will take you from Erebus and send you straight to Lucius."

Brook takes a step back, lifting her head high. She takes in a deep breath that shakes in her chest. She throws her head to the side and pins her ears back. She swishes her tail.

"Freedom is dead?" Brook's voice cracks, and I flinch.

I've never heard her talk like that before. The name Freedom sounds familiar, but I don't remember from where. Perhaps she's from one of the stories Brook told me about with the world ruled by the evil King and his Dragon.

What's wrong, Brook?

Phoenix wrinkles his nose. "I literally just said that. Why do you need me to repeat it?"

"I know Freedom." Brook looks back at me, and she looks horrified. "She asked me to take care of her daughter."

Phoenix glances between me and Brook a few times. He frowns, but then his expression changes. When he speaks, he's far less irritated. "Well, shit."

"Oh, no," Grey says.

"Freedom is my mom," I whisper. The pieces fall together one by one in my head. "I have two moms."

I smile. "Two moms is pretty cool."

"I suppose you do have two moms," Alex says. She crosses her legs.

"You're still coming with me," Phoenix says, "but I won't make Astra see Arcane if she doesn't want to. I might be a monster, but I'm not that cruel. I'm not the cream puff."

Phoenix stalks around Ky's body, and Brook turns to face me more. She pants and her eyes are so wide that I can see the white around the red and purple. She holds her head high, standing straight up.

"You didn't know Freedom was dead?" Phoenix asks.

"You said she died sixty years ago. Astra and I have been in the Field for the last ninety years. We have had no contact with the rest of Ragdon."

Ragdon is real?

Brook had told me stories of a world called Ragdon where the evil King ruled with the help of his Dragon. I thought she had made it up to entertain me.

Phoenix narrows his eyes. "How did you escape from the cream puff? You claim you were a horse in his army. That means you were close with him. So what are you doing here? No one can escape him."

"You are right. No one can escape the King. To keep Astra safe from him, I had to create a portal to a world he could not find. This wasn't permanent, and I've never considered it an escape. I was just buying time and hoping that maybe one day the King would fall because his head got too big and he forgot he's not Erebus or Lucius. You found us, and then the Guard and Soldiers did. I'm sure the King was looking for us every day for the last ninety years. He might not have cared so much about me until I took Astra from him."

"And what's so special about Astra? Forgive me for not buying your story," Phoenix mutters.

Brook sighs. "It's not Astra herself that he wants so much. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he couldn't care less about her. The King wants her father, and he knew the only way to get to her father was to go after her. The King claimed Astra's parents were abusing her and mistreating her so the Judge and Justice would take Astra away for their so-called investigation. It was less an investigation and more just listening to the King. But when the Judge and Justice ruled in favor of the King and agreed that Astra was being abused, her father and Freedom made me promise to keep Astra safe. The King had ordered me to have guardianship of Astra, and I agreed. I promised to keep Astra safe, no matter the cost." She stops when her voice breaks. "I took their daughter from them, and now Astra won't ever get to meet her mother and Freedom won't get to see her daughter grown up."

"And who is her father? Care to share with the group?" Phoenix's voice is distant.

Why is he acting so cold? He's on fire, but he's so cold.

Brook closes her eyes and swallows. Tears drip from her eyes.

I stand up, skin crawling too much to stay on the ground. I think back to the stories my stepmother told me and I go through the names. There is one she said frequently with Freedom's name.

"Jabez," I say. Somehow, I know it's right.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Brook nods. "Yes, your father is Jabez." She turns to Grey and Alex. "Please, is he alive?"

"I do believe so," Alex says slowly. She has a weird expression on her face, like she can't quite believe what's happening. "We saw him recently."

"How is he?"

Grey hesitates, and I tilt my head to the side.

"Is there something wrong with my dad?" I ask.

Grey fiddles with his hands and tugs on the silver necklace around his neck. He glances at me. "I think so. I cannot say what, but when we met him, something was clearly wrong."

Brook turns around fully. "What did you see?" she demands.

Alex grimaces. "He never said what was going on, but he was clearly in a lot of pain. He didn't tell us much."

"Ky made an illusion to knock off the pain, and then Jabez told him to drop the illusion when we asked about the cream puff," Phoenix adds. "Jabez didn't tell us how he knew the cream puff and he left. Wasn't much to the interaction."

"That doesn't surprise me," Brook replies.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Yes, actually, I do care. I only know a little bit, so I cannot offer much more other than my personal feelings that Jabez not saying much didn't surprise me. Jabez is not very talkative. Freedom knew far more, and she was far more chatty." Brook pauses and ticks her head to the side. "How did she die?"

"She got a wound on her shoulder and Arcane fucked up and killed her. What little bit do you know? Grey, get Ky. Hurt him and I kill you. We will talk and walk. I'm not gonna be sitting here and waiting for the cream puff to send more Guard and Soldiers after us, and I'm not waiting any longer than I have to for Arcane to bring Ky back."

Phoenix circles around Ky, and Grey gets to his feet and walks to the black cat and his brother. My head spins as I watch Grey crouch down and gently scoop Ky into his arms. Ky's head and tail flop down. He still looks like he's sleeping.

Alex brushes her hand against my shoulder and I look up at her. She stands up and stretches out her arms, curving her back.

"How you doin', Astra?" she asks.

"I'm ok. How about you?" I reply, echoing what Brook told me to say.

"It's been a long... I don't even know how long. There's been a lot going on."

I nod absently, eyes wandering over my surroundings. Now that things have gotten quieter, it's harder to ignore the dead Guard and Soldiers all around us.

They're so sleepy. So bloody and sleepy. Is that what Lucius does? Do they make you sleepy forever?

I spin in a slow circle. Blood turns the Field brown. Grass sticks together and is stomped down. When I accidentally step on a Guard's hand, I jump and bolt, circling the Field until I can stop.

"Come here, Astra," Brook says. "Come here."

They're all around me, and they're so still, and they lay in twisted positions, and they're all red, and their hands are reaching out toward me in claws, and I can't. I pant, wings flaring as I try to find some way out. I want to run back to Brook and hide against her until it all goes away, but I can't find a way back. There's too many Guard and Soldiers. They block my way.

A Guard beside me stares up at me with unblinking eyes that look fake and empty. Blood covers his neck and half of his face is burned. I curl away from him and shrink back onto my hind legs.

"P-please stop," I whimper. "Don't d-do that."

My vision blurs as I crouch down, every muscle tense and ready to run. I shake, and my mind goes blank with buzzing nothingness, and my body goes numb.

I don't react when I feel Brook's soft nose pressing against my shoulder. I can't react.

"Astra," she whispers softly, moving so she blocks my vision with her legs and head.

I quietly pant, staring at nothing.

She's quiet for a moment before she continues. "It's ok if you cannot respond. This is beyond terrifying for anyone, and this is something no one should ever have to see. We have to leave the Field. I know you have never left before and that it likely feels scary, but we cannot stay here. It isn't safe for us here. I will stay with you every step of the way, and we will find a new normal for our lives. I will not leave you, Astra."

Eventually, I come back to my body.

"Will we have a home?" I ask. I don't want to lose the Field.

"I do not know what Ragdon looks like or how it has changed, but we will find a home. We can make one that we like, and we will find a place to live. It might take a little while, but we will make ourselves a home."

I reach out a paw and touch the feathers on Brook's hoof. It grounds me.

"Do we have to?" I keep my eyes on Brook's fur. I don't want to see the Guard and Soldiers. I can't.

I don't know what they are. I don't know what happened to them. I don't know where Lucius took them.

If Ky isn't dead, then why do the Guard and Soldiers look so much like him?

Brook smiles sadly at me. "I'm sorry, but we do. It isn't safe here."

"I don't want to go."

I don't want to leave, but I don't want the Guard and Soldiers to be here.

Why can't they go away? Why can't it just be Brook and I again, just like how it was every day before?

"I know, and I understand. But we need to. I'll be with you the whole time, ok?"

I nod, ears falling back. "Ok."

I pull my wings in tight and get to my paws. I squeeze my eyes shut tight so I don't have to see the Guard and Soldiers, but I still remember what they look like, the way they lay on the ground. My breath catches in my throat, and I curl my tail between my legs.

By scent, I find Brook and press my face to her foreleg. I shift in place when the hair on the back of my neck rustles the feathers of my wings. Brook starts to move, but I wrap my forepaws around her leg, whining what I can't say in words.

"Alex can carry you, if you'd like. You wouldn't have to see anything."

I nod again, unable to speak.

"Astra, I'm right behind you," Alex says. "I'm going to pick you up, ok?"

I mewl, running my cheek over Brook's fur.

When Alex picks me up, I curl into her and hold a wing over my face. She starts moving, and I try not to think about what my surroundings might look like. Alex's pewter pendant is warm against my fur.

"We're out of sight of the Field," Brook says a minute later. "Just don't turn around."

Alex sets me back down, and I dig my claws into the ground for balance. I twitch my tail, and the plates at the end drag against each other.

Phoenix stands beside Grey, and he turns around. He looks at me for a second before exhaling.

"They all deserved it, you know. They had it coming. They followed the cream puff. They deserved it. Don't give them another thought. It's not worth your time. Besides, we have to find Arcane. Ky's counting on us."

He killed my mom. He killed Freedom. But he can bring back Ky?

I don't respond to Phoenix. I don't know what to say.

"Let's leave. We've already wasted enough time not heading to Ragdon Volcano."

"Very well," Grey replies. He shifts his hold on Ky, and Phoenix watches him closely.

I bounce over the shattered pieces of the rainbow barrier, following Grey and Phoenix. The kaleidoscope of colors still swirls in the jagged shards. I look at them for a moment, and they still mesmerize me.

"Sure are pretty, ain't they?" Alex says.

I nod. "Really pretty."

Brook waits for me to catch up to her. We reach the edge of the portal she created ninety years ago. I can see bits of Ragdon through the mouth of the portal. They're blurry and out of focus, but I see glimpses of trees and grasses longer than the ones in the Field. A tall mountain sits in front of fluffy clouds. Ragdon looks pretty.

Grey steps through first, and he disappears. Phoenix goes right behind him, and Alex hops through after. It's just me and Brook.

"Are you ready?" Brook asks. "I will be with you every step of the way. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

"Yeah," I say.

I don't know if I am though. I start to take a step and then pause before my paw can touch the ground. I want to turn around and see the Field one last time, but I can't. I know I'll see the Guard and Soldiers, but I still want one last look.

"Would you like to go together?" Brook stands next to me.

"Yeah."

"Let's go on three."

I take a deep breath and flick my tail.

"One," Brook says.

"Two.

"Three."

We step through the mouth of the portal together, and the darkness swallows me.