“I’m so proud of you, granddaughter.”Her voice was exactly how Iyana remembered it to be.
“I miss you so much,” she murmured.
“I know, my dear.Come, let’s sit.”Imo guided her to one of the couches, and she sat wedged between her mother and her grandmother.Her father sat on a chair, while Les and Theo sat on a couch opposite of her.Iyana glanced at her father, sorry she couldn’t sit next to all three of them, but he gave her a serene smile, letting her know he understood.Sometimes a girl only needs her mother.
Iyana’s mother, Isa, who looked so much like her, threaded their fingers together.“I’m proud of you too, my girl.My Iyana.”She smiled sadly.
“You shouldn’t be,” Iyana said, shaking her head.“I’ve messed it all up.I couldn’t listen to Imo’s simple instructions to stay away from the stars, then Altair killed her.And I followed him blindly, ignoring blatant warnings that I should have noticed.I constantly shut down my Kanaliza, even though his instincts were correct.Nine hells, even Les warned me about Altair, and I only saw what I wanted to!”She sighed.“I fucked up at every turn.Maybe I should just stay here…”
“Iyana Astalle,” Imo chided.“I know I did not raise a woman who quit when the road ahead became rocky.”
“Rocky?”Iyana stared at her grandmother with wide eyes.“Grandmother, there is no road!There is a semblance of a trail that has long since overgrown and is impossible to track.”
“By yourself, perhaps.Which is why you surround yourself with others who have different strengths.I am not telling you that this is all on your shoulders, child.You need to learn to use those you have around you in order to move forward.I think you were taught a hard lesson, and I am so very sorry I could not keep you from this path, but I know you have the strength to persevere.”
“We believe in you,” Iyana’s father said, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
Iyana peered into the faces of all of her loved ones who had passed on, their expressions shining with pride and love.For the first time, she actually believed them.Maybe shewascapable of fulfilling her destiny.She took a deep breath.
“Okay,” Iyana said, looking towards Les and Theo.“Tell me what I need to do to banish the stars.”
The original Aztia and Kanaliza exchanged a look before clasping their hands together between them and then focusing again on Iyana.
“It’s complicated,” Les said.“Zaya gave me the ability to banish them, but was more than vague on the explicit instructions.All she really told us was that a willing sacrifice was required, and from there, my instincts would take over for me.Honestly, when we were able to banish the stars, I only really remember wielding more power than I ever had before, and I wanted them gone.Then they were just gone.”
“A willing sacrifice?How did you fulfill that?”
Both of their faces fell.Tears welled in Les’s eyes, and Theo squeezed her hand.
“A thousand years later, there are still things that are too painful to discuss,” the Kanaliza said.Iyana nodded, respecting their boundary.She could take a guess at what a ‘willing sacrifice’ would be.
“Once you’ve reaped the magic from the sacrifice, you’ll be able to figure it out from there.I’m sorry I can’t be more specific with instructions.”
It was frustrating for Iyana that she had essentially killed herself for a crumb of information, but it was more than they had before.She was sure that between all of her friends, they’d be able to fit the missing pieces together.
“There’s more,” Les continued.“When we spoke before, you thanked me for helping you with your magic, but you need to know that whatever you thought was me wasn’t.”
Iyana frowned.“There was a little fire woman.She was the embodiment of my magic, and I could have sworn she had your face.”
Alessia shook her head.“It wasn’t me.I didn’t know about you until you showed up at my house.I made sure to be watching you from here as much as I could, thinking maybe I had found a way to project my magic to you to help, but I never could.”
“So who was it?”
Les and Theo shared another look.“We don’t know.”
Pursing her lips, Iyana thought about the possibilities, but no solution was readily apparent.She supposed it didn’t matter much either way, because the fire woman had been gone since Altair had stolen her magic, anyway.Honestly, Iyana had lost hope that she would ever return.
A twinge in her chest reminded Iyana that even if time worked differently in the Everlands, she had still lingered too long.Reluctantly, she stood, clinging to her mother’s hand.
“It’s time for me to go,” she said.The others all stood around her.
Imo gripped her shoulder.“You can do this, my dear.”
Iyana nodded, hoping her family’s confidence in her would take root and bloom inside of her, helping her to believe in herself.I can do this.
Chapter 51
Iyana
