Chapter 60 Surprise
ZORA
The ride back to the pack felt longer than it actually was.
I just sat there, but I just couldn't help but remember that the box opened and nothing was inside only for it to close back and not open again.
My fists were tight in my lap the whole way, nails digging into my palms until it almost hurt, but not enough to take away how bad I felt.
By the time we got back to the palace, I couldn't breathe well because of how heavy my chest felt. I didn’t even bother to wait for Marissa, I just held the box tight against my chest and walked past the guards and up the stairs, ignoring the way some of them looked at me.
Marissa tried to follow me.
“Zora..” she called softly, her voice was calm, the way it always was when she was trying to make me see reason or stop me from getting annoyed.
I didn’t answer, I knew that if I opened my mouth right then, anything that I would have said would come from a place of pain and anger and I didn't want anyone to see that side of me.
When I reached my room, I closed the door harder than I meant to.
I stood there for a while, just holding the box against my chest.
Then Marissa knocked gently, “Zora, maybe it just… maybe there’s another way,” she said from behind the door. “Don’t let it disturb your peace like this, please.”
I listened to her but I still didn’t give her a reply,
I carried the box over to my bed and placed it right in front of me, for a long time, I just sat there staring at it. The wood was smooth, and the carvings were very beautiful, but it seemed like they were mocking me now, something that should’ve felt like hope now looked like a closed brick.
I sat there staring at it, my chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. Every time I blinked, tears stung the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
Finally, the silence broke me, a sharp cry ripped from my throat before I could stop it, and I grabbed the box with both hands.
“Why won’t you open?” I shouted at it.
I shook it, tilted it, ran my fingers over every carved line, and searched for something I missed or something that was hidden.
My tears dripped onto the wood, sliding down the side, but nothing happened. It didn't shine or glow. Everything just made me more frustrated with how it was going. I pushed it harder, tapped the sides, knocked on it like maybe there was a secret compartment waiting to be opened. I even hit it against the edge of the bedframe, but there was still nothing.
My chest hurt from the anger that I felt. I let out a sob and hugged the box tight against me, whispering into it like it could hear me.
“Please, just at least give me something.”
The box stayed unresponsive to even the key that had opened it earlier.
I was about to drop it back on the table close to my bed when my hands slipped and the sharp corner of the lid scraped against the side of my palm. The pain was sharp enough to make me hiss, and I watched as blood formed and dripped onto the box.
The moment the first drop touched the surface, everything changed.
A faint hum vibrated through the air, soft at first, then it just got stronger. The carvings on the box glowed faintly. They looked like silver thread coming alive under the wood. Similar to what's supposed my powers like.
The lid started to shake in my hands, and then slowly, it shifted, opening itself.
I froze, my breath caught in my throat. My palm stung, but I didn’t care. My eyes widened as the inside revealed itself.
There were layers, hidden layers in the box, the top peeled back, and inside lay things that I didn't expect.
I saw a necklace or maybe an amulet, I couldn't tell until I picked it up, it's center held a faint glow like it was alive.
A picture, worn at the edges but clear enough for me to recognize that that was my mother. I just knew it was her.
She's surprisingly a redhead and the most beautiful person I've ever laid eyes on.
There was another picture of someone smaller, it was of a baby. She had the very same butterfly shaped birthmark on the chest in the photo.
I looked down at myself, at the butterfly tattoo sitting on my own chest, and a shiver ran through me.
The baby was me.
The picture was probably taken before my mother abandoned me.
There were books too, small spell books, bound with leather, their pages lined with markings I didn’t quite understand. A larger book sat beneath them. It looked way heavier and then, a folded note.
My hands shook as I reached for it. The paper was soft from age, but when I opened it, the words were still clear and readable.
“My Zora,
If you are reading this, then fate has brought you here. I've put in things and notes to help you understand who you are. Please don't look for me and I'm sorry I abandoned you. I was just scared of what you are. A mistake, I know, but I can't come back from it. I don't want to, that's why I did this to make you less angry at me. Did it work? Please be careful and don't be afraid. My love will always be with you.
— Mother”
I scoffed. She didn't even sign her name?
The words blurred as my eyes started to get teary. My hands covered my mouth in an attempt to muffle my sobs.
I hadn’t realized how much I needed to know that I belonged somewhere until now.
I held the note to my chest,
“Mother…” I whispered. The word felt weird to say because for the first time in forever, I said that word in relation to my actual mother. Irregardless of whether she wanted me or not.
I let myself cry.
The door opened softly, and Marissa stepped inside, I didn’t even hear her footsteps, but when I lifted my head, she was standing there in front of me, her face full of worry.
Her eyes went to the open box and to the things inside, and then back to me.
She didn’t ask questions, which was a good thing, she just walked closer to me and knelt beside me, her hand gently brushing my arm.
“Zora, there’s something you need to see in the first living room.”
I wiped my face with the back of my hand, “Now?”
“Yes, It’s… important.”
"What is it?"
"It's just important." She replied.
I followed her out to the living room, a frown on my face, was Ryker up to something else?
We entered.
My knees buckled as my eyes landed on the three most unexpected people,
My children and Courtney.