EVABELLE

The next day Evabelle woke up late.  At least, it was late for her.  It was 7:42am.  This whole adventure had messed up her usual sleeping patterns. 

Aza had been asleep when Evabelle came in the night before and she was still sleeping when Evabelle glanced over at her friend.  Silently, Evabelle rolled out of bed and threw on the clothes that she found in a similar closet to those in Calandra's home.  Evabelle needed to talk to Aza.  She was well aware of the charm's significance to her friend, but when she glanced back at Aza, her eyes slid to the bedside table next to her sleeping friend.  The little flower was resting there.  Evabelle felt relief lift the weight from her shoulders.  Shaundee must have managed to get it out of the pool.  Evabelle would have to thank her.

Evabelle slipped out of the room and was surprised to see so many people up and about.  There was still music, but it was softer and more of a subtle background sound.  The crowd had definitely depleted from the night before, but she still had to maneuver her way over to the bar where Shaundee sat on top of the counter, swinging her legs.

"Good morning!"  She exclaimed.

Evabelle nodded.  "You too." 

"How can I help you this fine morning?"  Shaundee accepted a glass of some bright orange liquid from the bartender behind the counter. 

The tall burly man nodded his head at Evabelle.  "Anything for you, miss?"

Evabelle politely declined, and then returned her attention to the mage sipping at her drink.  "I actually had a few things I wanted to talk about, but first I was going to ask how CJ is doing.  Is he alright?" 

Shaundee nodded.  "I believe so.  My brother may be a scatterbrain, but he can come up with some serious healing mixtures.  I'm sure your friend is just fine.  We could go check on him if you like."

Evabelle opened her mouth to say that that would be excellent, but the bar keeper stepped up again.  "You're new here, Miss.  I try and keep tabs on all of Shaundee's guests.  Could I have your name for the register?"

Evabelle blinked.  Calandra's sanctuary hadn't had a register, but she supposed that was because Calandra's place didn't have that many guests.  Shaundee seemed so disorganized, that she hadn't really thought those who worked here would be either.  "Of course," Evabelle said, coming out of her daze.  "My name is Eva—"

"Eve!"  Shaundee suddenly shouted.  "Greg, this is a friend of my daughter's, Eve Hartwell."

Greg nodded and scribbled in a large book opened to a page filled with names and room numbers.  Then he snapped it shut, tucked it under the counter, and headed to fill an order of a perpetually tall woman who had just sat on the other end of the bar.

Evabelle stared at Shaundee.  "Eve?"  She asked when the man could not overhear them. 

Shaundee nodded enthusiastically.  "That's right.  That's your name, silly."  She gave Evabelle a strange look, as if to say, don't argue.  Then the slender mage set down her glass of mystery juice and leapt off of the counter.  She grabbed Evabelle's arm.  "Come on Eve, I want to show you something."

Evabelle allowed herself to be dragged away and out of earshot of the sanctuary's occupants before stopping.  "Is something wrong?  What's going on?"

Shaundee glanced back behind Evabelle before responding.  "Trust me; you do not want everyone knowing who you are."

"Why?  I mean, it's just my name—"

What appeared to be a normal Native American girl (Evabelle didn't figure that she was actually normal) came down the stairs and walked passed them.

"Yes, yes, I know, you want to see your friend."  Shaundee said quickly, putting her hands on Evabelle's shoulders and steering her away from the stairwell.  "He's this way.  Patrick will have him down in his lab."  Once Shaundee deemed them far enough from everyone, she moved in front of Evabelle and continued taking her to CJ.

"Well?"  Evabelle prompted as they strode down the bright hallway.  "My name?"

"How many Evabelle's do you know?"   Shaundee shook her head, leading them into a strangely blank room with nothing but a tall glossy black door.  "There are plenty of Isabelle's and Arabelle's, but your name in unique.  They'll recognize it."

"Who will?  I don't understand."  Evabelle stared at Shaundee, who had begun to draw a twisted rune on the shimmery surface of the door, that Evabelle realized had no door knob.

Calandra's mother paused in her tracing of the mark, and said softly.  "They'll know you're the Anahalian princess."

Evabelle's mouth hung open for a moment.  "I...I..."  She shook her head.  "I can't really be the only one!"

"Trust me, your name is well known around these people."

Evabelle shook her head.  "But that man works for you.  Don't you trust him?"

"Greg is a good man, but it's not uncommon for eavesdroppers to catch things like that.  Besides, what if someone not so good got their hands on the register?"

"What kind of people do you have staying here?"

Shaundee completed the symbol and the door swung open.  "I'm very open to most guests."  She said.  "More open than most.  Velrose doesn't approve, of course," The lack of emotion Shaundee used when she said his name made Evabelle swallow.  She didn't want to get into the, obviously, complicated relationship between Calandra's parents.  But Shaundee went on.  "But even he allows guests in, that the other mages find inconceivable."

The two of them began to descend a long case of smooth marble steps.  The smell of chemicals and the tingle of electricity met Evabelle the moment she passed through the doorway.  "What do you mean?"  She asked Shaundee.

"Perhaps you didn't notice how the Anahalians were doing their best not to draw attention to their most identifiable feature."  Shaundee replied.

"Their wings," Evabelle murmured.  "I mean, I did notice that, actually.  You got Patrick to bring them the jackets.  But why did they need to do that?"

Shaundee sighed.  "You don't know how the world sees them, do you?"

"Well," Evabelle started to wonder if the staircase went on forever.  "I'm beginning to think they're not well-loved."

Shaundee shook her head.  "No, that they are not."  She agreed.  "There are very few sanctuaries that will open their doors to them, because they are seen as traitors.  They say the Anahalians abandoned the world for the rest of the angel children and those who cared, to pick up the pieces."

Evabelle blinked.  "They abandoned the world?"

"In a way, yes.  The Anahalians purpose was to protect mankind, but they left their charges and, some say, caused the rest of us to go into hiding."  Shaundee cleared away a few cobwebs from the ceiling.  "They left because of the human's corruption.  They could not take sides to their wars and their despicable acts.  That is what the Anahalians say.  But most don't take that excuse and hate them anyway."

"Hate has always seemed wrong to me."  Evabelle said softly.

Shaundee paused and turned her head to look at Evabelle.  Her eyes shone in the unnatural light.  "That's good."  She smiled and then continued to make the decline.

"It's kind of like an older child abandoning its younger siblings."  Shaundee went on.  "Anahalians are the first born to the angels.  They are the first and all the others looked up to them.  Anahalians were the heroes of angel children, so when they left, everyone else was heartbroken.  They felt betrayed and since then, they've never been seen as anything remotely like heroes.  Now, they are the despised cowards of the angels.  As the humans say the higher you are, the harder you fall.  Or I prefer the more you are loved, the more you will be hated."       
Evabelle, now understood why they had hid their wings, but there was something that still nagged at her.  She chose her words carefully, still not wanting to get in the middle of Shaundee and Velrose's lives.  "So most sanctuaries don't permit Anahalians because they are seen as traitors, so I'm just wondering besides yours, how many others allow it?"

Shaundee turned and gave a rather bittersweet look.  "I know of only one other."  She replied.

So Evabelle had been right in assuming that only the two sanctuaries were open to Anahalians.  "But," Evabelle swallowed.  I know that Calandra's father holds a high position in the mage's government, and it just sort of surprises me that the rest of the mages would allow it if he goes against their policy.  Not that I'm not extremely grateful, it's just..."  Evabelle trailed off.  She felt like she was walking on glass by mentioning Calandra and alluding to Velrose when it was obviously such a sensitive subject.

But Shaundee still answered her, courteously.  "There is no law against it.  Mages make their own decisions over their sanctuaries.  They can allow whomever they please.  Besides Velrose doesn't take crap from anyone.  He is a firm, confident man, who had been a true example in my life."

Evabelle was surprised to hear such words from the woman, considering that the two of them were separated.

Shaundee continued.  "Against popular belief, mages do have organization and have a form of government, which I am glad to see you recognize.  Many believe as us savages, beings that broke away from truth.  It is true the witches severed ties from demons, but that was where they were slaves.  The mages are very much like the Americans in that we broke from our original confining origins to make our own freedoms to choose, which we were well aware required rules all the same."

"What are some of the rules?"  Evabelle asked.  "Calandra mentioned that it is possible to be stripped of your mage's mark and outcast as a witch again."     

"You'd have to break some serious rules to do that."  Shaundee said solemnly.  "Witches and warlock's powers encircled around darkness and that of taking away free will.  So the original mages created seals on their power, changed them, directing them to different strengths, such as elemental magic and away from that of taking over life.  As a mage we cannot do magic on living things, at least not directly.  We can use illusion spells to fool the eye, but it must be on an object close to what we want our enemy to see.  Like a stuffed rabbit, we could fool someone into thinking it was real, which I don't know how that would really help against an enemy."  Shaundee tapped her chin, and Evabelle gave a little laugh.  "Now magic that could really get you stripped is if a mage were to use magic to seal vagi or to create a familiar.  Those are most certainly against the mage code."

Evabelle knew about the vagi, but she hadn't known that you had to create a familiar, let alone that they were bad.  Now she was curious.  "Familiars?"  She began to ask.

"What?"  Said a voice from ahead.  "Who's there?" 

Evabelle peered around Shaundee and caught sight of CJ sitting on what looked like an operation table.  She dashed over to him. 

He was sitting up, which was good.  And his cheeks had more color than they had the night before.  Evabelle saw beneath his t-shirt that his left shoulder had been bound.  The injury didn't appear to be causing him any pain.  CJ gave Evabelle a grin.  "So you didn't forget about me, after all."

Evabelle returned the smile.  "I'm glad you're alright."

The sound of glass shattering made Evabelle jump.  The sounds of fumbling and mumbling followed it and Evabelle turned to see Patrick, making his way out of his backroom.  The man came with armfuls of bottles and jars, each with their own color and texture.  "Oh bother," he shook his head.  "My sister is right, I'm the biggest klutz."  He sidled out.  "Don't worry, though, nothing important broke.  This," he adjusted all the objects in his hands.  "Should be everything, but it will need to be mixed..."  He trailed off once he realized that Shaundee and Evabelle were there too.  "Oh!"  He exclaimed.  "How long have you been here?"

Shaundee grinned.  "Long enough to hear you admit that I was right."

Patrick pouted.  "Oh poo."

"What are you making?"  Evabelle asked curiously, scanning over all the bottles of powders and potions. 

Patrick's eyes widened.  "Well, I—" He let all the supplies down on the stone table, beside CJ.  "Um..."

"Patrick likes to experiment."  The boy on the bed chimed in.  "He was going to show me one."

"Why do you think that his lab is so far down underground?"  Shaundee laughed.  "His experiments can get out of hand.  Quite often they go boom, if you know what I mean."

"They go boom," Patrick grumbled.  "That makes me sound mad."

"Well aren't you," Shaundee teased.  "A mad genius?"

Patrick put a finger up.  "A genius, yes, mad, I prefer to think not."

"And yet you don't deny it."  Shaundee taunted.

Evabelle turned to CJ.  "So you really are alright?  You saved my life.  I can't imagine you leaving us."

He nodded earnestly.  "I really am, Evabelle.  Patrick's a weird guy, but he knows his stuff.  I barely even feel it.  It's just a bit stiff, but there's not any pain."

"Oh you two," Shaundee turned from her brother for a moment.  "I almost forgot to mention, Calandra wanted to meet with your group once CJ was feeling better and by the sounds of it, he is.  So, you may want to go up and find her.  She said that it was urgent."

Evabelle and CJ glanced at one another.  Evabelle didn't know about CJ, but she was hoping perhaps Calandra had a few answers as to what happened at her sanctuary.  The beautiful mage had gone straight off to bed without saying a word to them last night, but Evabelle had a feeling there was something up that she hadn't shared with them.  Maybe this was it.

Evabelle and CJ entered a decent sized sitting room.  Like the rest of the building the walls were pretty much made of glass to let in the sunlight, but in this case they were all tinted, shadowing the room.  It was most likely for Kai for he was in the room along with everyone else, besides Gem and Jewels.

Calandra nodded.  "Good, now everyone's here."

"Where's Gem?"  Evabelle asked.

"She's out playing with some fairies."  Kai responded.  "I don't figure she needs to be here for this."

"Blah, blah, blah."  Tru interrupted from her chair. "So, are we about to find out what's up with the vampires and vagi, then?  And what about the werewolves with the Annihilator poison?"  Tru asked, crossing her legs.  Everyone else in the room sat or stood a little straighter at Tru's questions.

So Evabelle wasn't the only who was wondering about all that.

"I'm thinking we can figure that all of them were in cahoots."  Faux spoke up from his splayed position in one of the chairs. 

Del's violet eyes darkened.  "All working for Averno."

Calandra folded her arms.  "Yes, yes, I'd say that's all very apparent.  But what you all must understand is how they were all able to ambush us.  To start off  you all must take into account that my father's sanctuary is one of the most highly protected sanctuaries in North America, if not the world.  For what was done, it could only have been done from the inside."  She remained quiet, allowing her comment to sink in.

"Inside?"  Aza piped up from the arm of the couch.  "You mean like an inside job?  A traitor?"

"Aren't you brilliant?"  Murmured Tru.

Aza glared at her.

Traitor. The word was so foreign to Evabelle, having never been betrayed before.  She scanned over the room.  One of these people had let the monsters swarm Calandra's home.  She couldn't believe it.  But since her life had more or less become an epic saga, it made sense.  There was always someone who had to betray the main gang, but, she continued looking back and forth between her companions, who could it be?

"Yes," Calandra nodded solemnly.  "Not only that, this traitor must know about sanctuaries and the different type of barriers put up around them.  They much know how to break them.  And they also must have known where my mother's sanctuary was, and that that would be where we would end up going, to set it up with the werewolves.  This individual or perhaps more than one, must have formulated this plan to get to the Anahalians, but that doesn't mean it's still not one of you."  She gave a glare to Faux and Tru.  "But if that is the case, they've failed thus far, unless they have other plans."  Calandra shook her head.  "I know this will cause contention, but I still believe that I've made the right decision by informing you all of the situation, even I am informing the traitor that we are on to them.  I do not want to turn anyone against each other, but I believe that you all should know to be on guard."

"Against whom?"  Faux sat up straight from his carefree lounging. 

"As I said, I don't suggest we start accusing anyo—" Calandra began, but Tru rose to her feet, cutting the mage off.

"Isn't obvious?"  The Anahalian snapped.  "Who else would set monsters on the place, but a monster them self?"  Tru began to shake, and then whipped her arm around to point directly at Lucis, who had been standing a bit apart from everyone else.  "You should have never trusted a thing like him, Calandra."  She snarled.  "I've questioned most of the people you put up in your place, but that is the one that draws the line."

Lucis did not react to her accusation.  He didn't at all seem surprised.  The blonde Anahalian took his hands out of his pockets and pushed his hair back from his face.  "Tru—"

"No!"  She screeched.  "Don't you even dare try to deny it!"

Evabelle watched the display in utter shock.  She knew Tru didn't like Lucis at all, but accusing him like that was just so abrupt.  Evabelle shook her head.  Lucis, a traitor, was just plain preposterous.  He was so kind and gentle and.... Evabelle thought a moment.  Yes, Lucis was all those things, but from the beginning when they had first met, she felt a reserve with him.  There was a wall blocking Evabelle out.  It was rather confusing because it always seemed to her, that he wanted to be close to her, but at the same time keep her at a safe distance.

Evabelle shook her head, coming back to reality to see Faux struggling with Tru.  "That's enough!"  He shouted. 

"Shut up!" Tru screeched, shoving at Faux so that she could get to the tall Anahalian boy.  "Stop defending that beast!  Stop going along with his pathetic charade!"

What was Tru talking about?

Kai took hold of Tru's wrist.  "Take a deep breath and think about—"

"Let go of me, you filthy vampire!"  Tru smacked Kai away.  "You're all idiots!  You think that his kind, sweet manner, is what he really is?  Hah!  Idiots!"  She rolled her head around to glare at them individually. 

"Think about it!"  Tru whirled back to Calandra.  "Lucis came to your sanctuary two weeks before the rest of us showed up, so he had plenty of time to find out what kind of spells surround the Sanctuary.  He's a book freak!  He could read all those books in that big library of yours in a week!  I'm sure that there's information about breaking spells like that!  And you've obviously fallen for his stupid polite, considerate act!  You probably told him all about yourself!  You told him about this place, and then he went off to tell his--" 

"What's your deal?"  Aza was on her feet, staring at Tru.  Evabelle could practically see the adrenaline flooding her friend's system.  "You've completely lost it!"

It was true.  There was no reasoning with the struggling Anahalian girl. 

Evabelle glanced at CJ, who had an expression that mirrored her feelings of shock and confusion.

"That's right, I forgot!"  Tru gave a high disturbed laugh.  "You don't know!  You don't know the truth about that thing!"  Tru jabbed her finger at Lucis.

Del stepped in front of his brother.  There was an intensity billowing off him that even from a distance, Evabelle could feel.  His violet eyes made Evabelle's heart leap into her throat, with the glare he gave Tru.  "Never speak to or talk about my brother like that."  He didn't yell.  He said it softly, and so coldly that it made the small hairs on the back of Evabelle's neck to stand on end.  It might have been the most pissed off that Evabelle had ever seen Del, and that in itself was one of the most terrifying prospects Evabelle could think of.

Evabelle stared at them all, standing in front of Lucis, who wasn't even looking at them.  His sky blue eyes were closed and the tension in his face, just about broke Evabelle's heart.  She had seen Lucis when his wing had been all bloodied up from the Annihilator and the pain that he had masterfully hid.  But now the agony was etched into tightness of his throat and the lines his crinkled eyes made as he tried to block it out.  He turned away, because he could not force it to disappear, but he still didn't want them to see.

Evabelle was angry now.  Tru had done this.  Tru had hurt him.  Evabelle didn't know how, she didn't know why, and in that moment she didn't care.

"What do you have against him?"  Evabelle surprised herself by shouting.  "He is the kindest person I know, and all you do is insult him and belittle him!  You say he's a monster, but no one else sees him that way!"  Evabelle felt Lucis's gaze on her, but she didn't return it.  She continued to glare at Tru.  "He is the portrayal of goodness and if you can't see that you are blind!"

Tru's eyes darkened.  "I'm blind, huh?"  Her voice had softened as her gaze bore into Evabelle.  "Do you really know Lucis?"

Evabelle took a deep breath.  "I—"

"No!"  Tru snapped.  "You know neither him nor his brother.  You know nothing.  You—"

Calandra stepped up to Tru and threw a large amount of dust into the girl's face, causing her to instantly go limp in Faux's arms.  "This is exactly what I didn't want."  Calandra muttered.

Faux laid his cousin on the long couch and stumbled back.  "Whoa," he slurred.  "I think you got me with that magic powder to..."  He tripped over his own feet as he tried to stay upright.  Kai swept forward and caught him as he too collapsed.

Evabelle stared dazedly.  Slowly she became aware of her senses again.   Aza took her arm.  "Are you okay, Bellz?"  She whispered to Evabelle.  "You've gone pale."

Evabelle swallowed.  "I—"

"Well, the rest of you should know that we will be leaving this evening."  Calandra stood at the center, looking rather drained.  "Just so you are all aware."

Aza spun back.  "Seriously?  We just got here!"

"Then stay here!"  Calandra turned on her.  "I don't care what you do, but I'm getting myself out of here as soon as possible."  She strode past Evabelle, Aza, and CJ, toward the door.  "Faux should wake soon.  It may take a few hours to wake Tru."  Then she was gone.

"She really doesn't like this place."  Kai murmured, beside the chair where he had placed a lightly snoring Faux.  "Obviously, you can see that she has a very strained relationship with her mother.  Shaundee reminds Calandra too much of her sister and how things sort of fell apart and..."  He trailed off as everyone's curious expressions.  "The point is, don't take what she says to harshly, especially now that we know that there is a traitor."

Aza looked like she wanted to ask about Calandra's family story, but instead she asked, "But she's ready to take us all back to her place, now that she knows there's a traitor among us?" 

The elf shrugged.  "To her, it's better than staying here."

"I just don't get her."  Aza shook her head.

"It's not going to be that easy."  Del suddenly spoke, making Evabelle jump.  He still hadn't moved away from Lucis.  "Calandra's not going to be so lax.  She's going to be keeping an eye on us from now on."

            The sound of Faux's snoring filled the space between the rest of the group.  All Evabelle wanted to do was get out of the room.  She felt like she was going to be sick.

            Aza scrunched her face.  She opened her mouth to ask a question, but then caught sight of Evabelle's face and stopped herself.  "Well," she said brightly, her tone doing a three-sixty.  "This has been an excellent chat." She patted Evabelle's back.  "Since we're not going to be staying here long, Bell and I are going to enjoy it while we can."  Then she steered Evabelle from the room with CJ just behind them.

            Once they had gone down the hall a ways, Evabelle leaned against one of the large glass windows, breathing hard.

            "Are you alright?"  CJ asked, his eyes widening.

            "She's fine."  Aza responded.  "That was awesome, Evee."  She gave Evabelle a thumbs up.  "That brat deserved it."

            Evabelle shook her head.  "I never do that."  She wheezed in an abnormally high voice. 

            CJ rested a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

            "Yeah, you do."  Aza argued.  "You defend what's worth defending.  Tru was out of sorts.  I don't know if she's ever been in sort... or whatever.  But the point is she shouldn't have said all that crap and she needed someone to tell her off.  You have no idea how happy it makes me, that it was you."

            "Why would she accuse Lucis?"  CJ asked.

            Aza's eyes narrowed.  "Maybe to cover her own tracks."

            "You think Tru is the traitor?"  CJ raised his eyebrows. 

            "Why not?"  Aza asked.  "She's a spiteful woman."

            Evabelle was beginning to calm down.  "Just because you don't like someone, doesn't make them the bad guy."  She slid down the wall and sat on the floor.  The other two followed suit. 

            Aza shook her head.  "I don't see why not."

            "It's less painful when it's someone you don't like."  CJ murmured.  The girls looked at him.  He swallowed.  "Well you know; when someone betrays you it hurts.  You thought they were your friend, but they weren't."

            Something Shaundee had said when she had taken Evabelle to see CJ popped into Evabelle's head.  "The more you're loved, the more you will be hated." It was a dark thought, but Evabelle could definitely see the truth of it now. Never in a million years would Evabelle expect it to be Aza, but if it were her friend that would definitely hurt the most and would most likely end in a terribly shattered relationship.  But Evabelle knew it couldn't be her friend.

            Aza sighed, leaning her head back to stare up at the ceiling.  "Yeah," she grumbled.  "Isn't it supposed to be the last person you suspect?"  In a strange way, it was as though the girl had read Evabelle's mind.

            "That's how it goes in the books."  Evabelle replied.

            Aza pounded her fist against the floor.  "So, what?  Does that rule out Tru?  Because I say that—"

            "I don't think we should rule out anybody."  Evabelle said softly.

            "Who do you think it is?"  Aza's head snapped up to stare at Evabelle.

            Evabelle bit her lip.  "I don't know.  I just can't see any of them doing it, even Tru."

            "What about you?"  Aza asked CJ.

            CJ stiffened at the question.  "Well, I don't know.  I'm kind of the opposite, I guess.  I can see any of them doing it." 

            The girls stared at him. 

            "Well, we don't really know any of them."  CJ shrugged uncomfortably.  "I mean what Tru said is somewhat true about Lucis.  He talks a lot with Calandra and could have found out about this place and he's definitely a fan of books.  Del's rather creepy and the two of them are brothers after all.  Tru and Faux just happen to show up after Evabelle, the princess, shows up.  That seems a little suspicious.  Kai's an actual vampire, one of the demon blooded creatures.  And the guy also knows Calandra really well.  You heard him.  He was talking like he knows about her whole family situation."  CJ took a deep breath in his little speech. "But if you want me to be specific, I guess I might say Calandra herself." 

            The girls goggled at him. 

            CJ swallowed again.  "Because she is perhaps the least likely person.  She owns the Sanctuary.  No one would suspect the person who lives there to be the one to cause it to be broken into."

            Aza actually laughed.  "That sounds like a classic mystery show addict, my friend."

            CJ pulled a face.  "Well, your reasoning is just that you hate Tru.  Let me guess Del is next in line?"

            Aza shook her head.  "Surprisingly, no.  I don't really agree with all your reasoning.  But shockingly I say Del is just a jerk not an evil criminal mastermind, but I guess you could say the same about Tru.  I guess I don't really know either, but man if it has to be someone, let it be her."