Everyone I loved was gone. My family was dead. I was alone. I suddenly had no past, as well as no future. The sting of death was trying to catch up with me. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want think about shirking off my mom, or my last angry words to Collin. Guilt gnawed at me constantly. I kept moving, trying to push it away.
Sister Al held a steaming teacup in her hand. She’d given me one too, but mine held steaming cocoa. I inhaled the vapor. Al’s wrinkled skin had a rosy complexion again. She looked worn after the battle, but seeing Jenna Marie—who was her missing boss and best friend—helped her rebound quickly. Jenna Marie’s task had also been to find me; the Prophecy Girl. She determined the location that I would originate almost two-hundred years ago, and waited until I showed up. She had the patience of a saint. No wonder why she was so perky. It turns out that is why the area had so many Valefar and Martis. They were all waiting for me, the Prophecy One to show myself. As if I’d wanted the job.
After Shannon healed me, everyone left quickly. They had to report what happened to the Tribunal in Rome and decide how to proceed. It was clear that I fought for the Martis, but after expecting to destroy me for over two thousand years, it required a lot of paper work to get everyone on the same page. Julia disappeared, taking Eric with her. I didn’t get to hear what he had to say. I assumed he’d be back, begging me to listen. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to, but after what happened with Collin, I was willing to admit that I didn’t know everything. Actually, I was willing to admit that I knew less than I did before all this started.
Al’s voice cut the silence, “So, are we gonna keep ignoring it?”
A sad smile tugged at my lips, “Ignoring what?” It’d been like this every day for a month. I didn’t go to school. I didn’t have to once they found out my Mom died. No one noticed that I’d ditched the field trip, either. Social services left me alone since Al claimed me. I let her. I had no other family. The school didn’t expect to see me again until after Christmas, which was fine with me. So, I spent my afternoons like this; sipping hot liquid with an old lady.
“The prophecy,” she said.
I leaned back into my chair. “I hadn’t thought about the prophecy.” I didn’t want to.
“Well, here’s something you may want to think about. What if everyone was wrong? What if the prophecy didn’t mean what we thought it did?” she asked.
My mouth hung open, as I put my cup on the table. “What are you talking about? Of course it was right. That thing even told me I would be its queen. I know you heard it.” I shivered. That demon scared me. A vivid memory of the sound of its voice, and the smell of its breath, hit me. The realness of that creature made my vision of being the demon queen way too real.
“Yes. I heard it. It said you will be queen.” She paused, sipping her tea. “You know, there is only a single ruler in the Underworld at a time—a king or a queen. The only ruler that I have ever known is Kreturus. His reign spans my lifetime and more. He’s cruel—vile beyond words. Since you have Valefar abilities, you must have noticed the price of his power. Everything is paid in pain, misery, and agony. There is no rest, no peace for his kind.
“But, right now I sit across from a girl, who is part of his lineage, and is more powerful than he ever was—even though she is still young.” She smiled at me, “And the things that have been laying the path to your dark fate are not things that were malicious or evil—they are actions that originated from love and kindness. Ivy, we thought the Prophecy One would be more powerful and more evil than Kreturus. But, how can that be true when the child I see sitting in front of me is you?”
I didn’t know what to say. Tears stung my eyes, and before I could blink one away it rolled down my cheek. “It doesn’t matter what I do, does it? That’s still my fate. There is nothing I can do to stop it. I tried and failed.”
“Ah,” she said, “but perhaps stopping it shouldn’t be the goal?” I wiped the tears from my face and stared at her unbelievingly.
“You think I should just accept my fate? How can you say that? You know what it means. I’ll be trapped in the Underworld, with no friends and no family. I’ll be alone forever, becoming something that I don’t want to be.” My chest felt hollow as the words poured from my heart. My destiny cost me everything. Accepting it meant Mom and Collin died in vain. No, I couldn’t accept it.
“That’s the part that I think we got wrong. It was assumed that you would continue in Kreturus’ footsteps, but the prophecy doesn’t explicitly say that. And I can’t see you becoming the Destroyer, not when you’ve fought so hard to protect the ones you love. Perhaps your destiny involves this dark place, but the person you become is still in your hands.” She sipped her tea.
I stared into my untouched cocoa, “It doesn’t feel like it. It feels like I have no control over anything. And how is a good person supposed to live in Hell? That’s not the way things are.”
“No? Are you sure?” she looked at me through ancient eyes. “I’ve seen some things that make me believe things aren’t as clear as you might think. I recently heard of an evil Valefar boy who saved a Martis girl, twice. Everything we know says that his actions were not possible, but that mark on your head says otherwise. Ivy, would an evil person give his life for you?”