IT WAS HER MOTHER.
"How are you here?" Nylie asked, suddenly very cold. The Daize did nothing to shield her from the icy look her mother was giving her.
"You think I wouldn't know," she said softly, walking up to her. "You think I wouldn't be able to sense your presence once you arrived here.
"You always underestimate me, my dear," her mother crooned, slowly walking towards her. "Of course, I knew the moment you arrived in Paravald. This world is my eyes and my ears. You should know that already."
Nylie glared at her. "Maybe I just didn't give a damn if you knew or not."
Ivory chuckled. "Sounds like you have the same sharp tongue you had two years ago. Where is that devilish sister of yours?"
"Safe in Wayward. Where she belongs," Nylie snapped.
Her mother scoffed. "I doubt that."
Nylie stiffened. "You did something. I know you find ways to hurt people, even in Wayward. What did you do to her?"
"Now why would I do something to my own daughter?"
"I don't know," Nylie said dryly. "Maybe because you're evil and you've always hated us?"
Ivory shrugged. "Perhaps."
"What. Did. You. Do."
"Oh, nothing. I'm only saying that I doubt Angelina would wait patiently for you to get back. If you ever get back."
"She's reckless, but she's not an idiot."
"You aren't aware of your sister's Gift yet, are you?" Ivory said, a wicked gleam in her eye.
Nylie crossed her arms. "Why does it matter?"
"It does not matter to me," her mother replied airily. "But if you cared for Angelina--as I'm sure you do, though you try your very best to hide it--you might've taken more caution to make sure she stayed in Wayward. Perhaps you might have. But since you don't know what Gift she possesses, you have already failed to protect her."
Nylie gritted her teeth. This is what her mother always did. She always had to have the upper hand. Always had to use some sort of knowledge against her.
"Then why don't you tell me what her Gift is?"
Ivory chuckled. "You know I can't."
Nylie wanted to go right up to her mother and rip that smirk off her face. She took a slow, deep breath.
"What are you doing here, Ivory?"
Her mother only smiled at her. As if accepting a challenge.
"I only came here to warn you. Like a mother would warn her daughter."
Nylie laughed coldly. "Some mother you are."
"Don't you know?" Ivory goaded. "Angelina was meant to come here. It has already been written in the Stellae Liber. That means it will happen, no matter what is done to stop it."
Nylie froze. "That's not true. Angel's at home, she's--"
Ivory clucked her tongue. "Naive, naive girl. Did you really think she would listen to you, of all people? If anything, you instructing her to stay home has only made her desire to come back even stronger. She is already on her way."
Nylie's hands began to shake. Whatever else might've gone wrong--her and the others failing their mission, none of them making it back--it would have been alright. They would've figured something out. But if Angel was coming, putting herself in danger--
It was easy to protect her in Wayward. Nothing ever happened in that dimension. It was safe. But in Paravald ... Nylie didn't know. Didn't know how to protect her sister here. She had failed the first time. She would surely fail again.
"Now, don't panic, my love," her mother drawled. "She is with that handsome young man, Arkin. He will protect her."
"Yeah, until you rip out his throat," Nylie snapped. She was terrified. Utterly terrified of what her mother would do once Angel got here.
She would show no mercy. None at all.
But Nylie would get on her knees. Would do whatever was needed to help her sister. She would beg her mother to spare Angel. To spare Arkin. If the lycan died, Angel was nothing. There was not one without the other.
It had been that way for a long time.
But instead of begging, Nylie said, "You witch. What did Angel ever do to deserve you?"
Ivory smiled like she had just raised her own demon from hell. "Now don't be like that, sweetheart. You must admit, I raised you and Angelina quite well."
Raised us into the cold, vicious bitches we are, Nylie thought bitterly. But she wouldn't buy into her mother's ploys. Wouldn't fall into her trap. She knew that was exactly what her mother expected her to say.
Nylie had to tread carefully. Ivory would know the moment Angel and Arkin stepped into Paravald. So she would play this game for as long as she had to, and then she would escape and find the others. She was in no shape to go against her mother, not when she did not know how to activate her Gift yet.
Saving the world could wait, but Angel was a priority.
She always would be.
"I know what you're thinking, darling," Ivory said, smiling broadly. It didn't matter that her mother had the most beautiful face in Paravald. There was nothing beneath it.
"You are my daughter. I always know what you're thinking. And you're right. You can't fight me and win. Not when I have the power of both the Sun and the Moon."
"Why can't you just end this here, right now?" Nylie asked. "Why can't you just stop being so cruel? Why let one experience from your past change everything you are? Change you into this heartless person?"
Ivory smiled, but Nylie could see rage simmering beneath it. It was terrifying just how much a smile could hide.
"I think you should be asking yourself that, darling."
She froze. The words were true. Nylie was no better than her mother. But that didn't mean she had to admit it.
"I was talking about you," she snapped. "Why can't tell me where you're hiding my father? The world needs him. He's the Moon. Without him, the world will end. You can't seriously want everyone to die just because of your vendetta against him."
For a moment, Ivory's face wavered, and that was when Nylie knew.
"It is much more complicated than a petty vendetta, my love. And one day you will understand that."
For a moment, her mother seemed almost ... sad. But Ivory Viotto did not get sad. Emotion did not run in her veins.
"I will never understand you. I will never be like you," Nylie snarled.
And there it was. That infinite sadness in her mother's eyes."But you are already like me, child. You already are."
It was getting clearer by the moment that Ivory was not really there. She was simply a projection, a trick. Nylie was talking to a ghost.
She suddenly remembered Tia's words, right before she had followed Maynar and Lizzy into the mist: Be careful of the fog. It can be tricky sometimes.
Tia hadn't just been stating a random thought.
It had been a warning. A clue.
It suddenly occurred to Nylie that the others were probably facing illusions of their own right now.
Ivory wasn't really here. She was just an illusion. Now all Nylie had to do was find a way to get rid of it.
But how? She suddenly remembered Rehan's soft voice by her ear, how he had sat just across from her as he leaned against a tree. His face, those four golden specks in each of his eyes, how he had looked when she forced him to recite the riddle. His faltering voice, his hands kneaded through the grass, his broken words.
Focus, you idiot! Why was she thinking about him now, when the evil queen was standing before her? Why wasn't she focusing on the right thing?
The right thing ...
Nylie paused. Maybe it wasn't Rehan's voice she had been thinking of. But the riddle he'd been reciting. She quickly racked her brain for the riddle's details. And little by little, the lines started coming back to her.
"Beware of the thing that can only destroy
But know that this thing can also bring joy."
While Ivory had destroyed a lot of things in Nylie's life, there was absolutely no joy in this situation whatsoever. She skimmed her brain for the rest.
"Beware of those hidden in plain sight
Who say they are true but are your worst night."
It couldn't be that one, either. Her mother did not try to hide in plain sight. She was evil in all her glory.
So which line was Nylie looking for? There was something at the tip of her brain--just beyond her reach-- poking and nagging her. Urging her to find it. But which one was it?
"Beware of the sound that is silent to them
and the sounds that slip into your head."
Was it possible that she was hearing things? Was she seeing things that no one else saw?
Nylie looked up. Hundreds of owls stood perched on branches all around the forest, most of them sleeping, others staring off into the distance. Yet none of them were looking at her. If her mother was really there, most of them would've already visinolated. Would've already vanished without a trace. Even the owls knew to stay clear of Paravald's queen. But none of them paid even the slightest attention to her.
Which meant her mother wasn't really there.
But what the hell was she supposed to do, now that she knew it wasn't real?
Nylie did the only thing she could think of: she spoke it aloud. If there was one thing that reversed enchantments in this dimension, it was speaking. One thing about Paravald was that it listened when you spoke. And if Nylie wanted to make that thing in front of her disappear, all she had to do was say it.
Yet there were times in which Paravald did not always respond when you spoke to it. But Nylie did not want to think about what would happen if it didn't.
"You're not real. You're just a damn illusion." And you don't frighten me anymore, she almost added.
The woman before her paused. Nylie watched her mother for any sign of hesitation, but Ivory looked as real as the forest surrounding them.
Nylie hesitated. Perhaps she had been wrong. Perhaps this was really happening.
But then Ivory smiled wickedly. "You aren't as stupid as you used to be."
Something in Nylie faltered at her mother's words. There was a part of her that still cared what she thought, a part of her that still wanted her mother's approval.
She hated it. Why couldn't she just not care? Why couldn't she be just as cold as Ivory, and not give a damn about anything? Why did she have to feel so much? To feel for even the slightest things?
Nylie looked up, and her mother was watching her closely, intently. She was already starting to disappear. Paravald was working its magic.
Ivory gave her that same, sad look. "Do not try to freeze your heart, child. For when it melts, you will be left with more than you bargained for."
And with that, her mother's body melted into shadows and mist.
Nylie slumped to the ground in defeat. In her haste to be rid of her mother, she had almost forgotten about the others. If they were coming soon, they couldn't see her like this. Couldn't see her at weakest.
So she stood up, brushed off her Daize, and waited for them to return.