“Because you died.”

Denial coursed through me. I shook my head. “I think I’d remember dying.”

The traitorous voice in the back of my mind laughed.

I shook my head. “No. It’s not… It isn’t possible.”

My legs began to collapse under me. My nails dug into the couch for support. Luke wasn’t looking at me again. “You were murdered. Someone stabbed you.”

Twice.

Unthinkingly, I moved a shaking hand up my torso. My fingertips brushed over a narrow scar on my abdomen, just above my navel, before resting over a second identical right over my heart. They were just the right size for stab wounds. Undeniable reality hit me in the gut. My knees gave out.

“Gen!” Luke cried out. Wood scraped on wood as he leapt off of the coffee table to rush to my side. He propped me up against his chest with my head leaning awkwardly on his shoulder. “It’s okay. I won’t let them find you. I won’t let them hurt you this time. You’re safe.”

His vehemence and pure determination vibrated through his entire body. His hands were wrapped around me protectively. Time slipped away from me as I finally came to grips with what Luke told me. Ederlind had to exist. So did this grand battle between the Great Fairy Queen’s forces the Everlastings. There was some kind of Veil between Earth and Ederlind that kept everything separate. Dad had known about this. Luke knew about this. I was brutally murdered in Ederlind. And I had to believe every single last word because I had the scars to prove it!

Fingers brushed through my hair and brought me back to the present. I blinked a little before realizing the vaguely panicked look on Luke’s face. I took a breath, willing myself to be strong. My little brother didn’t need to be emotionally propping up his older sister even if the age gap was eighteen months. With a great amount of effort, I pulled myself out of Luke’s arms. “I think I want to sit down on the couch again,” I mumbled.

I made it there mostly under my own power. However, I didn’t see any shame in leaning against the couch and falling on to it as soon as I was clear of the arm rest. This time Luke sat beside me. He wrung his hands together some more before saying, “You believe me now?”

“I’ve got two good reasons to now,” I muttered. Somehow I managed not to touch my scars over my clothes again.

Luke nodded numbly. “I see…”

There’s a sort of morbid curiosity that takes root sometimes. I think it happens to everyone and it seems to strike at the worst possible times over the worst possible things. I knew it was my imagination getting the best of me; however, I could feel my scars prickle under my shirt. I didn’t want to ask. No. I didn’t want to make Luke feel like I was laying blame on him but…

The thought was burrowing so deep that I had to know.

“You’re an Everlasting then? One of the Queen’s heroes? Is that why the Troll and the Reapers came after me tonight? Why I was murdered? Because I’m your sister and they were trying to hurt you through me?” I asked. I tore my eyes away from the ground and examined Luke. He didn’t look like much but after the way he’d dealt with the Reaper it was fairly clear that he was more than capable with a sword. Good enough to be the Knight.

Something clicked in my mind. He was the Knight.

“That’s why you’re always staying out late isn’t it!”

Luke yelped in pain as I brought down the throw pillow I’d been sitting on top of as hard as I could. “What? No! Gen!”

I wasn’t listening anymore. “You’ve been fighting magical creatures!”

Whack!

“How dare you do something so dangerous without telling me!”

Whack!

“I guess I don’t deserve to know. It’s not like I’m your sister or anything.”

Whack!

“What was I supposed to think if you never came home?” I demanded, giving Luke yet another hit with the pillow.

“Ouch! Hey! Stop it!” cried Luke as he snatched the pillow out of my hands and threw it across the room. “Yes! Yes, I’ve been fighting the creatures but I’m not an Everlasting. You are!”

I’d been reaching for the second throw pillow when he blurted that out. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Me? An Everlasting? Yeah right?”

“It’s true!” Luke whined. “You’re what’s known as the Enchantress. Your magic and abilities are way beyond anything anyone else could do!”

My hands wrapped around the second pillow. Luke threw his hands over the top of his head and ducked. “Stop and think about it for a second. You created that shield tonight that saved your’s and Snow White’s life! That… and you sorta came back from the dead remember?”

“And what did you do?” I shot back. “You expect me to believe that you’re over three hundred years old. Sorry Luke. The only wrinkles I see on your face are the bags under your eyes.”

“A-heh-heh! You’re so funny.” Luke glared at me. I raised the pillow threateningly and he flinched. “Okay, fine. You’re right. I mean, you’re sorta wrong but that’s just splitting hairs at that point. The gist of it is that after you died, Dad and I found out you were an Everlasting.”

He stopped talking midthought. The haunted look once more filled his eyes as he looked at me. He dropped his eyes to the floor and twisted his hands again. I put my hand on his knee. “Luke what’s wrong?”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to talk about this for me? This is your death we’re talking about here. Your murder. The more we talk about it, the more I…”

Luke broke off. His hands clenched into tight fists on his knees. I wasn’t even sure if he was still breathing. Guilt washed over me. Maybe this wasn’t something I should be pressing him over. The last thing I’d ever want to think about was Dad’s death. It hurt and now I was hurting Luke. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

I fully expected Luke to drop it.

“Because of… your death coming before it’s time, the Queen told us that your magic had preserved your spirit and you’d come to exist where you’d be most needed. Namely, here on Earth. Dad and I couldn’t bare the thought of you coming back and being by yourself in what we thought of as a foreign land at the time. We cut a deal with the Queen to follow you here so that maybe we could do a better job of protecting you the second time around. She cast some spell that made us just sort of… stop existing in Ederlind. We faded out and were reborn here. I don’t know exactly how the magic worked. I didn’t ask nor do I think I could fully understand it.”

My heart clenched painfully. “You and Dad did that for me?”

“Of course.”

“Were we really that close?”

Luke nodded. “It’s always been the three of us, or at least it was until you up and moved to another principality for work.”

He stopped and I waited for him to go on. He had this kind of little smirk on his face while he was talking about it. Then it vanished again. In fact, he seemed to physically bite it down. Another dark memory perhaps?

I let it go. No sense in pulling more grief from my brother. “So what happens now?” I asked.

“For you? Well, that’s up for you to decide no matter what the Queensmen try to tell you. They can’t force you to do anything.”

“What do you mean?” I shook my head. “Force me to do what exactly?”

“To take the Oath and be a Queensman. We… or at the very least I have to go and see the Queensmen tomorrow. I owe them an Oath, my part of the bargain we made with the Queen. Dad would’ve owed one too but… y’know.”

“He died too. Why has it taken you so long to join up? I thought you already were a Queensman.”

“No. We all agreed that Dad and I wouldn’t take the Oath until you became aware of the fact you were an Everlasting.”

“I see,” I mumbled. It was a lie. I barely understood anything.

A silence fell over the room again as Luke and I sat facing the same direction. I dragged a hand through my now tangled, drying hair. My clothes were on the damp side now too and left me with an uncomfortable sticky feeling all over my body. I ached too. Arms, legs, shoulders, everything. Then, to top everything off, my head was throbbing.

Exhausted. That’s exactly what I was. Luke had to be too.

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” I whispered. Luke jumped up off the couch as I stood up. His hands shot out like he was afraid I was going to fall over or something. Maybe I’d swayed on my feet as I’d stood. Or maybe he just remembered the way I’d collapsed a bit ago. Whichever one it was, I waved him away. “You should go to sleep too I think.”

“Gen if you’re worried about…”

I cut him off. “Everything that’s going on can wait until morning. I’m cold, I’m wet, and I’m tired. We can figure things out in the morning. Okay?”

“Okay,” Luke nodded.

“Good night Luke.” I got half way down the hallway before I stopped and turned. “And Luke… thanks. For everything.”

“No problem Gen.”