30 day challenge-Day 14: Lost in Time, Chapter 7 (Part 1)
Once they got to Shadowcliffe, Kalika was nervous. For all she knew, her uncle was home. He wouldn’t need to keep her from being born, he’d just kill her. “This place is hideous. You’d rather be here than with your own?” Adam asked. It reeked of lower beings, corpses and blood. “Home is where the heart is and mommy and daddy are my world,” Kalika said. She decided to be a coward and go see her parents first. When she knocked on the door, she hoped that Tristan was there. It would make life simpler and she could run.
“What are you doing here? Do they even know you’re gone?” Carly said before she looked both ways. “Everyone but my father is dead, but it doesn’t matter. So am I,” Kalika said sadly. “No…don’t you talk like that, young lady. I don’t care if you’re in that body, you’re still home,” Carly said. “I’m afraid not. She had to do depraved, hideous things to bring them down, but she had Pryce shut her off. If it makes you feel any better, she was working non-stop until Lilith married her off to Angra Mainyu,” Uriel said with a sigh.
Everyone but Carly paled; they would have never guessed. “I’m okay. He didn’t beat me until Rianna made him think I betrayed him. She thought she was helping, but Azra is a touchy subject. I managed to keep him from hurting me and talked my way out of it. He lets me work and I had children, so I did my job.” It was awkward and Kalika didn’t want to tell her mother any of this.
“It never ends with that woman, does it? She took you away, made you wind up with perverts and sold you to some demon now. You shouldn’t have been beaten at all,” Carly said angrily. “Carly…Angra Mainyu isn’t an ordinary demon. He’s the personification of darkness. In the very beginning of the world, god had two sons. Angra is the darkness and he’s already here. If he’s strong enough, he’ll bring pestilence, hatred, jealousy and the other evils of the world back. It’s why Kalika stood up to Lilith. She was trying to end the cycle of war, blood and constant destruction. We may all have our differences, but no one felt her death was fair. She did a brave thing and if anyone should have died, it was Rianna. All of her past mistakes led up to this, Kalika kept cleaning up her mess and she never died,” Uriel said nervously.
Carly fainted; it was too much. “Why did you all bring him up? Of course she’s going to get upset!” Kalika said angrily. “She deserved to know how hard you’ve been working and that you’ve changed,” Uriel said as he scooped Carly up. “That wasn’t necessary and you should be ashamed of yourself. My mother would have been hysterical and now I can’t stay calm, either. My god…you met him and lived.” Adam was worried sick and his sister may as well have been a sacrifice.
“I’m sorry. This isn’t completely Rianna’s fault,” Malachi said as he shut the door. “Of course it isn’t. Grace doesn’t really know what she’s doing, they just asked her to help because she can heal you all, sense when something’s off or see who needs help the most. You’re an idiot who constantly lets his heart and his hormones guide him,” Uriel said. There was nothing wrong with Amara, she was barely a Bako and she believed in god.
“Ugh…go away. You’re Pleidian and my father would never allow it. If she’s dead because of you and that girl, then you should take her place,” Adam said. Malachi hadn’t been to the underworld or lived in the land of darkness, Kalika had. “No one did and I did learn my lesson. Look, none of us knew what happened with Lilith, that Kalika became a doll yet again or how far this conspiracy went. I’m sure my sister and Rianna feel awful and they did try and save her. Rianna has improved, she just hasn’t corrected her mistakes. Kalika was obsessive and methodical, so I think she got used to having someone else stay on top of things,” Malachi aid apologetically.
Once Carly was awake, Kalika sighed with relief; she could explain it herself. “I had the weirdest dream. I could have sworn someone told me you were married to the devil,” Carly said. “He’s not the devil, he’s a trickster or sorts. Yes, he’s the darkness, but he has multiple aspects. The first time I met him, it was Neverland. He was Peter Pan and he had Tristan. He only let him go if I stayed. The second time he and I met, he was the green-eyed demon that took Vartan. He visited me once when I was a doll and he tried to kidnap my cousin Pryce, so after I died, told grandmere the truth. She gave me my body back, but it was only solid when I was on that island. I wish he had stayed Peter since he wasn’t all bad,but he thought he’d make me happy by growing up and being someone worthy of me. I had no idea who he really was until he told me. He can and has turned into Pan,” Kalika said.
“EW!” Malachi had a disturbing image and wanted to throw up. “That’s just great. You can’t even be happy in death, you have to have sex with a goat and he beat you. You shouldn’t be here if he’ll hit you,” Carly said bitterly. “He can’t come after her now. I’m sure he’s angry now that she took his most prized prisoner off the island, but she’s not safe. Agares thinks that if he keeps her from being born, it solves everything. He has other grandchildren and we’re not sure if cares that Tristan will vanish from existence as well,” Uriel explained.
“Excuse me? First he breaks that boy’s heart and screams about how my daughter was a traitor and now he wants to kill him? Mordachi, Laia and Tristan left town and I’m not losing my family. How does her death solve anything?” Carly demanded. “Oh. We figured he’d be in town,” Malachi said. “Well, lucky for you, he is. He’s staying for Christmas with Mordachi and Laia. This isn’t about solving a damn thing-He wants revenge,” Carly said.
“It’s quite serious and Tristan needs to come with us. You see, whenever Kalika, Malachi or any of us have gone on missions for the surface, we left a psychic imprint. Our identities became real people and every single person Kalika was in the past is going to die and so are their children. I’m not losing my wife and my children, all because he doesn’t want Abina to be born,” Uriel explained. “It’s not just Abina, mom. Amara came with us on that trip and she married Viral’s grandfather. If she was never born, Viral, Varun and Vikesh will have never been born. He’s coming after grandma, too. If she’s never born, the Tristan I know will have never been born and he and Adam will be the same person again. Marcus will have an ordinary life, the revolution can only move forward by so much and grandpere will never come and start the surface mission. Aunt Cara will marry Magnus, Iliara will never be born and neither will Lara, Gabriel or Avara. I doubt she’ll marry Deng,so Minh and my friend Norman will never be born, either. Neither of my fathers will be born, grandpere and grandmere will never meet and marry and you’ll never meet daddy, let alone have my brothers,” Kalika said. She picked up a picture from the ledge and teared up; it was all going to go away.
“You’re not leaving me. Not if I have anything to say about it. I really doubt that woman is capable of love, but I thought she loved your grandfather. Vivienne was her favorite child,” Carly said. “She is and grandmere doesn’t know. Uncle thinks he’s doing her a favor, but you know what? Before I went back to grandpere and mom, she begged them to forgive her. She loves him, she’s miserable without him and wishes they could dance once more time,” Kalika said as she shook her head. “Then tell her, damnit. Why would she want to lose the love of her life and her children?” Carly asked.