CHAPTER 60: The First Step
Georgia's POV
The dark kid copies lunged at us with claws extended. I raised my glowing hands and blasted the fake Shadow backward.
"They're not real!" I shouted to Jared. "They're just illusions!"
"Illusions that can still kill us!" Jared fired his own dark energy at the fake Kelvin. The copy ducked and laughed.
"Fight! Fight!" the First Evil shouted. "This is so entertaining!"
My real children screamed from inside their cage. Dark energy was wrapping around them like snakes. Shadow's eyes were starting to turn gray. Kelvin was crying. Keira was beating against the bars.
"We have to get to them!" I ran toward the cage, but the fake Keira blocked my way.
"You can't save them, Mama," the fake said in my daughter's sweet voice. "They belong to the darkness now. Just like Papa always did."
"Shut up!" I hit her with golden light. She screamed and dissolved into smoke.
Two down. One to go.
Jared was fighting the fake Shadow. They were evenly matched—dark energy against dark energy. The fake kid was strong. Too strong.
"Jared, watch out!" I yelled.
But I was too late. The fake Shadow blasted Jared in the chest. He flew backward and hit the bone ground hard.
"Jared!" I ran to him. Blood poured from his mouth. "Get up! Please get up!"
"Can't," he gasped. "Too strong. Georgia, you have to save them without me."
"No!" Tears blurred my view. "I can't do this alone!"
"Yes, you can." He grabbed my hand weakly. "You're the best person I know. You always have been. Save our children. Please."
The fake Shadow advanced on us. "How sweet. True love's last moment. Too bad it won't save you."
I stood up, placing myself between Jared and the fake kid. My hands glowed brighter than ever before. "You want to hurt my family? You'll have to go through me first."
"Gladly," the fake Shadow said.
We clashed in a burst of light and darkness. I could feel my power fading. This fight was taking everything I had. But I couldn't stop. My real children were running out of time.
"Georgia, his weak spot!" Jared yelled from behind me. "Fake Shadow doesn't have the scar on his neck! The real Shadow does!"
I looked. Jared was right. The fake Shadow's neck was smooth. No scar.
"You're just a copy," I said. "A bad copy. You'll never be as good as my real son."
The fake Shadow's face twisted with rage. "I'm better than him! Stronger! More powerful!"
"But you're not loved," I said simply. "And that's why you'll lose."
I focused all my power into one blast. Everything I had. Every bit of love I felt for my children. For Jared. For my family.
The golden light shot from my hands like a beam of pure sunshine. It hit the fake Shadow straight in the chest.
He screamed and exploded into nothing.
I fell to my knees, tired. All three fakes were gone.
"Well done," the First Evil said, clapping slowly. "You defeated my fantasies. But now comes the big test."
The dark energy around my children's cage started moving faster. They were yelling louder now. Shadow's eyes were turning totally black. Kelvin's face was getting gray. Keira's toenails were growing into claws.
"No!" I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't work. I'd used too much power.
Jared crawled over to me. We were both too weak to save our children. We could only watch as the darkness devoured them.
"I'm sorry," Jared whispered. "I'm so sorry, Georgia. This is all my fault."
I wanted to agree with him. To blame him. To hate him. But looking at his broken face, I realized something.
"It's not your fault," I said quietly. "You didn't choose to be the First Evil's son. You didn't choose any of this. We're both victims here."
"Georgia—"
"I forgive you," I interrupted. "I forgive you for everything. The rejection. The pain. All of it. Because despite everything, you gave me three beautiful children. And you love them. I can see that now."
Jared's eyes filled with tears. "I don't deserve your forgiveness."
"Nobody deserves forgiveness," I said. "That's why it's called grace."
The moment I said those words, something strange happened. My hands started glowing again. But this time, so did Jared's hands. The same golden light.
"What's happening?" Jared stared at his glowing hands.
"Your darkness is turning to light," Oracle Mira's voice suddenly echoed through the land. "Georgia's forgiveness broke the First Evil's hold on you! Jared, you're becoming a Guardian too!"
The First Evil roared. "No! That's impossible! He's mine! He's always been mine!"
"Not anymore," I said. I grabbed Jared's hand. Our combined light grew even stronger.
Together, we stood up. Together, we walked toward our children's cage. The First Evil tried to stop us, sending walls of darkness in our way. But our light burned through everything.
"You can't have them!" the First Evil screamed. "They're mine! I won them fairly!"
"You won nothing," Jared said flatly. "These are our children. Our family. And we're taking them home."
We reached the cage and put our bright hands on the bars. The dark metal began to melt. Our children looked up at us with hope in their eyes—even as the rot tried to take hold.
"Mama? Papa?" Shadow said weakly. "I'm scared."
"Don't be scared, baby," I said. "We're here now. Both of us. And we're not going without you."
The cage door burst open. We grabbed our children and held them tight. The golden light spread from us to them, burning away the gray skin, the black eyes, the claws. They were becoming normal again.
"No!" The First Evil lashed out with a huge tendril of darkness. It wrapped around all five of us, trying to drag us deeper into its realm.
"Caleb, now!" Jared shouted.
Suddenly, a door opened behind us. Caleb reached through, grabbing my arm. "Jump! I can pull you back!"
We jumped toward the opening, still holding our children. The First Evil's tendril tightened, fighting to keep us.
"If you leave, you'll lose something precious!" the First Evil threatened. "Choose! Your children's memories of you, or your lives!"
"What?" I gasped.
"That's the price of escape," the First Evil said. "Your children will live. But they won't remember either of you. They won't remember being your children at all. Is that a price you're willing to pay?"
I looked at Jared. He looked at me. We both looked at our three children, holding onto us for dear life.
"Yes," we said together. "Yes, we'll pay it."
"So be it," the First Evil said.
We fell through the portal. We landed hard in the palace room where Anna, Oracle Mira, and the Guardian Queen were waiting. Our children landed beside us.
Safe. Alive. Free.
But when Shadow, Kelvin, and Keira looked up at us, their faces were blank.
"Who are you?" Shadow asked, fear in his voice. "Where are we? Where's our mama and papa?"
My heart shattered into a million pieces.
"They don't remember us," Jared whispered in fear.
Anna rushed forward. "Georgia, what happened?"
"We saved them," I said, tears running down my face. "But they don't know who we are anymore."
Keira started crying. "I want my mama! Where's my mama?"
I reached for her, but she pulled away from me like I was a stranger.
"Don't touch me!" she screamed. "You're scary! I don't know you!"
The Guardian Queen's face was grave. "The First Evil kept its word. Your children are free from evil. But their memories of you are gone. Completely erased."
"Can we get them back?" Jared asked desperately. "The memories?"
"I don't know," Oracle Mira said sadly. "Memory magic is strong. And this was done by the First Evil itself."
I looked at my three children—scared, confused, not knowing that I was their mother. Not knowing that Jared was their father.
"We'll find a way," I said firmly, even as my heart broke. "We'll make them remember. Somehow."
"Georgia," Anna said nervously. "There's something else you need to know. While you were gone, we got a message. From the Lycan King."
"What message?" I asked.
Anna's face was pale. "He's coming here. Tonight. And he says he knows the truth about the kids. He says they're not Jared's children at all. He says they're his."