Chapter 18

Firo stood across from the building and watched her. He would have known if she’d been hurt in that fire, would have felt it, but seeing with his own eyes that she was unscathed made him feel relief. She’d been doing something with the motorcycle machines for an hour now. Checking each one, starting them, and checking some more. He knew nothing about human machines, but watching her where she was in her element was a fascinating sight.

She stepped out of the garage and looked around. He held his breath. She couldn’t see him, but it was as if she sensed him. “Why are you lurking here?”

Was it possible she felt their connection after all these years? Or was it something to do with whatever magic lay dormant inside her? He sighed and made himself visible. “I was just checking that you were well after your ordeal yesterday.” He walked toward her slowly.

“Yeah? You saw me get out.” She shrugged. “I was fine then and still am.” She pulled a cloth from her back pocket and wiped her hands. “Thanks for that, by the way.” She glanced up at him briefly. “I didn’t know I could do that.” She paused in cleaning her hands. “That they could do that.”

“They?” He stopped, leaving several feet between them. If he went any closer, he wasn’t sure he could trust himself to not reach out and touch her.

“Wings.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know they were useful.”

“Yours are.”

She tucked the cloth back in her pocket, crossed her arms over her chest, and eyed him up and down. “Are yours?” she leaned to look behind him. “You do have some, right?”

“I do.” He crossed his arms over his chest, once again, to control them from doing something that she would take offense with. “When in this realm, it’s not a good idea to have them visible.”

She snorted. “I get that.”

“Mine are not the same as yours, so they are not as useful as yours.”

“So, not fireproof.”

He opened his mouth and then paused for a second. “I have no idea.”

She smiled. “Yeah, I guess standing in flames isn’t on many people’s to-do list.”

He had no choice but to smile at her. “Not normally, I would assume.”

“But we’re not normal.” She looked at the pavement for a moment. “I’m not normal.”

It pained him to feel the desolate emotions coming from her. “I suppose that depends on whose standards you’re using.” He lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “You seem quite normal to me.”

She chuckled. “That’s probably because you’re not human.”

“Possibly.”

She moved quickly and held out her hand. “Firo, isn’t it? I thought we should formally meet. I’m Ava.”

He knew that she was aware of the fact that he already knew her name, but how she had found out his, he couldn’t be sure. He looked at her hand as he reached for it. Touching her, when she was aware, was going to take some focus on his part. When their palms lightly touched, he held her gaze as he schooled his response. There was still an ever-slight buzz moving through his hand, but he was able to keep it to a minor degree. Squeezing her hand for a second, he released it and pulled his hand back. “How did you discover my name?”

She was looking at her hand. “Did you feel—” She shook her head and looked at him. “Crissy.”

“Ah, yes, the seer. You have her to thank for alerting me to your situation yesterday. I’m afraid I was caught up in the commotion with the unconscious women.”

“You were there?”

He nodded. “Yes. My princess was able to extract the herb used.”

“Your princess? Aireese?”

He nodded again.

“Cool.” She looked down the alleyway. “So, I was going to sniff around the area today.” She looked back at him. “Maybe you could use your Spidey senses and check out anything that doesn’t sit right.”

He had no idea what she was saying. “Spidey senses?”

“Yeah. Like the comic book character.”

He cleared his throat. “I’m afraid I haven’t read any comic books. Ever.”

“Really? That’s too bad.” She shrugged. “I’m sick of things happening to the women in my world. Nova, Jeri, the Alterealm women, so I’m going to start patrolling and handling anyone that needs it.”

He didn’t think this was a wise plan but also knew not to call her on it. “Handling?”

She nodded. “Yeah, you know, kick a few idiots in the head.” She shrugged. “Maybe I’ll call Autumn and see if she can take some time from her baby and come lend a hand.”

He’d watched her for years and knew her well enough that if she said she was going to kick someone in the head, she would do it. Literally. “I’m not sure that is a solid plan.”

“Oh?”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he attempted to look relaxed but felt anything but that emotion at this moment. “We aren’t certain what type of—” His mouth twitched into a brief smile. “Idiot we’re looking for.” She grinned at his use of her word. “Whoever did that to the Alterealm royal women is very powerful, and I’m not certain attempting to kick them in the head would be successful.”

She studied him for a moment. “So, you think I should take Princess Paisley and maybe Bethany with me. Or I could ask Karma and Sparx to tag alone. You know, bring my own magic backup.”

He had witnessed a few of the feats the women she lived with could do, as well as the princesses, but he still wasn’t sure it would be enough if they encountered the one that had been able to spell weave something that powerful into human pastries. “I am not even certain if my magic would be strong enough.”

“Really? You have some strong magic, then?”

He nodded. “I do. The older my kind become, the more powerful they are.”

“Interesting.” She cleared her throat. “What do you know about angels?”

Her curiosity about her own DNA wasn’t a shock, but he knew it could also lead to a very deep hole to fall in. “Some, but not a great deal.”

She sighed. “Yeah, it’s not like we can google it.”

That reference he understood. “No, it’s not.”

They stood there watching each other in silence for several minutes. He could see all the questions lurking in her eyes and wished for a brief moment that he could tell her everything without repercussions to either of their worlds.

“Firo, I’m going to ask something, and I’d like you to be straight with me.”

He inhaled slowly and inclined his head. “I will try.”

“Cool.” She sucked in a breath as if it was taking a lot of courage to speak it. “Why were you there the day I was born? It was in the place in the forest, right?”

He studied her for a moment and was thankful she didn’t resemble her mother much in her current form. “It was close to there, yes.”

“Okay. So why were you there? Who were you looking for?” She held him in place with her eyes. He couldn’t have looked away if he’d tried to.

“I was…”

“Oh, good, you’re here.” Aireese appeared beside him. She smiled at Ava. “Hello.”

Firo sucked in a breath and sent his princess a quick look, asking her to not say anything about their discussion the night before. “You said you needed to speak with Capri.”

Aireese gave him a watchful look. “Yes. I also want to go to that café again and see if there is anyone lurking around.”

“I was just saying pretty much the same thing.” Ava walked into the garage, took the machine she had been working on by the handles, and pushed it back over to where it was. “Firo didn’t think it was a good idea.” She said over her shoulder.

Aireese lifted one brow while she looked at him. Turning back to Ava, she gave her a soft smile. “It could be quite dangerous. We aren’t sure who we’re dealing with yet.”

“Yet.” Ava put her hands on her hips and looked at Aireese. “I like that you’re not done looking.”

“Oh, no, we are not. It is of the utmost importance that we find the one, or ones that are responsible for the things that have been happening.”

Ava walked back out of the garage. “Yeah. I agree. Jeri told me you’re helping those fathers. That’s cool that you are.”

Aireese clasped her hands in front of her. “To have one’s memories suppressed is a cruel act.”

Ava nodded her head slowly. “How could someone tell if that’s what happened to them? Would they know things weren’t right?”

Firo sucked in a breath and held it. He didn’t like the direction this conversation was going. Had Avalie figured it out? Did she know that her memories weren’t lost? He needed to think of something to get Aireese away from here.

“Well, for most, they would never know. It would take exposure to something from their past to stir the inclinations that things weren’t as they seem.” His princess sighed. “Unfortunately, with the mothers and children in one realm and the fathers in another, that never happened.”

“That sucks.” Ava looked at the pavement for a second, then her head popped back up, and she looked at Aireese. “I think that was done to me.”

The princess looked shocked. “You think someone has suppressed your memories?”

Ava nodded. “Yeah. I have like—” She waved her hand around beside her head. “These flashes of things that I just feel inside me are right, but I don’t remember them.” She sighed. “If I try to, there are knives stabbing into my head. The pain is bad.”

He hadn’t known that. Hadn’t known that there were adverse reactions to something like that. The way he’d understood it, was it was just fogging over memories, so they were there, but not clearly there. His heart ached for her.

“I see.” Aireese looked at him, her gaze filled with concern. She turned back to Ava. “I can take a look. It’s slightly unpleasant but not painful.”

Ava’s expression lit up. “For real? You can do that?” She smiled. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

“You’re here already.” Capri was standing on the stairs. “Come inside, I have some things I need to discuss with you.” She motioned to the door.

Aireese glanced at Firo and then back to Ava. “I was just going to see if I could help Ava.” She smiled. “We can do it inside.” She nodded.

Firo was not going in there with all those women. He couldn’t be present when Aireese checked for a cast spell on Ava’s memories. He couldn’t face the accusatory looks he knew he was going to get. “I will go check near that café while you attend to this. I also need to speak with some of the elders in Alterealm.” He couldn’t ask anyone in Fa Terra about the angel wings. Angels and Fae did not get along. As the two more powerful creatures in existence, there had always been a power struggle between the two.

Aireese nodded. “Good idea. I shouldn’t be long. I will meet you over there after I’m finished.” She smiled at him, and he could see she was very happy being this near to her niece. The darkening of her eyes just before she turned away assured him that she wasn’t going to say anything to Ava about the truths he had revealed the night before. Now, all he had to do was hope she didn’t unlock the spell on Ava’s mind because to do that was going to change her forever, and he was afraid she may never be the same after that.