Chapter 29: Chapter 24

“Ellie!”

The forest was dense, the trees not giving much leeway to light, but the bright, familiar voice calling her name caused her to frantically whip her head back and forth, searching for the alto tones of her best friend.

“Ellie!” the voice called again, this time further away.

“Allison?” her own alto tones sputtered out as she ran through the darkened forest, trying desperately not to trip over the gnarled branches jutting up from the ground. The crunching of the dead leaves on the forest floor fueling her forward in her search.

The forest was only getting darker by the moment, the leaves on the trees becoming nonexistent, but the blonde emissary never gave up. She kept running toward the voice beckoning her deeper into the cold darkness.

“Ellie!”

She could see her breath beginning to cloud around her, and no matter how much her eyes had adjusted, her vision was beginning to give out. The darkness was overwhelming, choking her with its thick ice. A pained cry escaped from her pale lips. She was going to die if she remained in the dark hold of the forest around her.

“Ellie.”

Allison’s voice was a mere whisper, a warmth in the ice of the night, and so close, beckoning her to continue her search. Ellie whipped her body around, following the voice, leading her sight to the brightest golden glow that she had ever seen.

"Allison?" she muttered, lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the light.

The raven haired beauty was sitting on top of a large, gray rock. The sun beamed down on her as her eyes twinkled with mirth and the largest smile stretched across her lips. She reached a hand toward the blonde, beckoning her to join her.

Ellie’s lungs constricted as tears blurred her vision. She took a tentative step toward her best friend, desperate to reach her, but terrified of the prospect.

“Don’t.”

Whispers of the lone word surrounded her, echoing along the desolate forest and bouncing back. A warm presence enveloped her right side, pulling her eyes away from the raven haired werewolf to a slender brunette.

A golden glow emitted from her pale skin, illuminating her entire being, and Ellie couldn’t help, but feel that she was familiar in more ways that one.

Ellie swallowed the growing lump in her throat. “Why not?”

She turned her onyx eyes to the blonde, a solemn look upon her face, “It’s not your time. You have much more to do before you join us.”

Ellie studied the woman, the nagging feeling that she knew her tugging at her insides. “Do I know you?”

“I would certainly hope so,” the woman said, amusement beginning to dance in her eyes. “I would hope they would have told you of the woman who birthed you.”

Ellie’s eyes widened. It couldn’t be. Her mother—“If you’re my mother, then that means…”

“You’ve nearly let a man kill you,” her mother said, her lips drawing taut. “Tethers are dangerous, Eleanor. Especially when it comes to the Cartwright family. You’re safer within close distance to them.”

“He left me,” she replied, bitterness seeping into her words.

“And you did nothing about it,” her mother retorted, crossing her arms over her body as she turned to fully face her daughter. “You didn’t even try to go after him.”

“He didn’t want me to,” Ellie said, wetting her lips before glancing toward the ground. It wasn’t a lie. He didn’t want her to follow him.

“And I’m sure you didn’t want him to leave, but did that stop him?”

Ellie frowned. Mostly because she knew she was right. He never stopped to think about the consequences of his leaving. Why should she have cared if he didn’t want her to chase him down?

Her mother watched the sadness settle on her daughter’s face. She wasn’t pleased with the disappearance of her child’s tether, but she also understood her daughter’s stubbornness. She was her father’s child after all. “I don’t mean to sound so harsh.”

Ellie lifted her eyes to the woman.

“I just know you’re just like your father. Minus your tongue,” she replied, a weak attempt at soothing the child she never got to know.

“I wouldn’t know that, would I?” Ellie narrowed her eyes, trying to resist the growing anger within her. “Considering neither of you were ever around.”

“I hate to break it to you, Kid, but you can’t really be there when you’re dead,” she snapped, her own eyes narrowing.

Another truth that had Ellie biting back a smart comment. She knew where they had been, but even so, it couldn't stop the anger. She wanted more. She deeply considered commenting before her mother spoke up.

“Your father, on the other hand, hasn’t been keeping a close enough eye on you,” the brunette rolled her eyes. “How that man remembers his head I’ll never know.”

Ellie’s eyebrows furrowed as her head tilted to the side, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that he’s terrible at keeping watch over you,” her mother shook her head. “You give a man one dying wish, and he can’t even fulfill it. You have to do everything yourself if you want it done right. Although, I suppose you are technically alive. So he hasn’t completely failed me.”

Was her mother saying what she thought she was saying?

“I’m sorry,” Ellie muttered, her tongue wetting her lips as she harshly closed her eyes before training them on the woman in front of her. “Are you trying to tell me that my father is alive?”

“Well, he’s not dead. That’s for sure,” she said, before turning back to the now vacant rocks. “If he was, I wouldn’t need to ask you the favor that I do.”

Of course, this wasn’t just a casual visit. She should have never expected it to have been. Ellie stared harder at the woman. “What favor?”

“I need you to find him,” her mother said bluntly. “The two of you will be stronger together. With the future insisting on being what it will, you will need each other.”

Ellie’s eyes were unfocused as she tried to comprehend what was being said to her. She didn’t understand how any of this could be true. Her father was alive? How? Why hadn’t he tried to find her? Did he just not want her either? The thought was plausible. It would only line up with the deeds of every other man that she had ever truly cared about. They all left one way or another.

A frown tugged at her lips. Where was she supposed to find him anyway? She cast her mother a perplexed gaze. “Wh-“

“He’s closer than you think,” she interrupted. “Just follow your instincts. They’ll lead you to him.”

“Follow my-”

“Just trust me, Eleanor,” she pleaded before looking around quickly, eyes widening minutely as she looked at Ellie again. “We don’t have much time. Look for the place where birds fly free. You’ll find him there.”

She looked quickly around again as a loud inhuman screech sounded from within the forest causing Ellie to take a cautious step back. Her mother turned her intent gaze back to her.

“I love you and your sister very much, Eleanor,” she smiled, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. “Please, don’t forget that. I would have been there if I could have been.”

“I know and I won’t,” she said, her heart rate quickening at the prospect of what was happening and what was to come. “I won’t forget. We lo-”

Before the words could fully escape her mouth, great claws, resemblant of a griffin's, ripped through her mother pulling her back in a burst of bright light.

“Ellie?”

Bright lights were blinding her as she tried to pry her eyes open. The intense smell of antiseptics and bleach quickly flooded her nose as she weakly lifted a hand to shield the light from her eyes. A warm hand grasped her own, causing her to shift her gaze from the bright lights to the boy sitting at her side.

His gaze was stern, but she could see the relief trying to hide within his azure eyes. The deepening lines darkening his eyes showed how little sleep he had garnered. Why would he of all people not be sleeping?

“It’s nice to see you awake,” Dawson said, his gaze never leaving her. “You gave us all quite a scare.”

His thumb traced circles on her hand, making her head spin in confusion. What was she doing in the infirmary? The last thing she remembered she was in her room with Harmon and Fe— Wait.

“Where are my friends?” she asked, her throat burning with each word.

“Where they should be,” he replied, causing her to furrow her brows. “How are you feeling?”

“As well as one can when they’re dying.” She looked anywhere but him. This was hard enough to admit to herself, but if what she had seen was correct, she had almost died. She didn’t have time to worry about whether or not she was feeling well.

“So you do know?” he questioned, his grip tightening on her hand. Why hadn’t she told any one? They could have helped. It didn’t have to become this bad. “Why is it that I had to hear about this from Mirabelle Weston? You should have came to us as soon as you knew you had a problem.”

Ellie didn’t understand why he was so angry. What good would it have done for her to bring up the fact she was separated from her tether. It’s not like they could have made him change his mind.

Not wanting to deal with whatever lecture he thought he was going to give her, she tugged her hand away from his and tried to push herself up from the bed. She didn’t have to sit and listen to someone tell her how she was supposed to react, what she was supposed to do.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, standing from his spot beside her. “You can’t just leave. You’ve not healed completely.”

“I’ll just have to deal with it then,” she said, refusing to meet his eyes. “I have to check on Harmon and Felicity any way.”

She finally made it out of the bed, her body aching with every movement. As she began to take a slow step toward the door, Dawson spoke up, “You won’t find them.”

Ellie’s eyes widened at what that could mean. What had happened while she was asleep? She turned to the dark haired emissary wondering what he could possibly be saying. “Where are they?”

He shook his head, his eyes narrowing, “Harmon has been warned one too many times. He has been exiled for his own good.”

Ellie’s jaw hardened as she tried to control her breathing. They just couldn’t let anything go, could they? First her, now Harmon. It’s like they had something against those with Cartwright blood.

“As for Felicity,” he continued, paying close attention to Ellie’s anger. “She has been placed under the care of Amira for the time being. She did not take so kindly to Harmon’s dismissal. I will remind you that you are also under the watch care of the council. One misstep and all of your hard work will have come to naught.”

Ellie was shaking with anger, but she knew better than to express the emotions she was feeling toward the emissary in front of her. It would do her no good to act now. Wetting her lips, she released a heavy sigh.

A smirk, quite like his brother’s, tilted Dawson’s lips as he watched her relent to him. She would do well yet for what they had planned. “I’m pleased to see that you can rationalize through your feelings. It bodes well for you.” He began to step toward the door, pausing at Ellie’s side. “You should be thankful. Harmon didn’t want any of the blame placed on you. Now, back to bed, Eleanor. I’ll send one of the healers in to assist you.”

He watched as she submissively stumbled back into her bed before exiting the room, leaving Ellie to bring her hands to her hair and roughly rake them through it wondering what she was going to do now.