Chapter One

 Twenty Years Later

The terrified screams of a young girl echoed through the still night air, awakening Tadan Lyons and sending him into a minor panic. He looked around the opulent bedroom that the Government had provided for his use. He let out a short laugh and ran his fingers through his short dark caramel blonde hair. The Government hadn't provided him with anything - he was nothing but a glorified prisoner, one that everyone but a few of the Government scientist feared. He didn't understand any of this fear, this speculation, or the dereams that haunted his every moment. He just wanted to live his life the way that he had been trained since childhood, but he feared that there was something missing, something that he still didn't understand.

He stood up and walked over to the window, placing his head against the still warm glass and watched as the Guards went about their duties. At one point, he would've been down their with the rest of his clan - the Tiwaz - proud to do his duty. Yet he was marked...his soul bound to another, a supposed gift from the Gods...one that was supposedly only given to the Feoh, the believed to be extinct Royal clan. This had almost caused the entire Tiwaz to shun him, and it would've happened if his adoptive father hadn't been the clan leader, or his adoptive mother the most fierce warrior in the history of the clan. Despite this, he was still treated like a leper by everyone outside his immediate family and the old beggar woman. His not looking like the rest of the clan with his dark caramel blonde hair, golden brown eyes, and lanky build didn't help matters any. The old beggar woman claimed he was the young prince, the only son and heir of the lost Queen Seraphima and the beloved murdered King NAME. The whole Clan generally accepted this as the insane ramblings of a woman who either had too much to drink or had suffered too much in her life - it all depended on the time of year. 

A small part of Tadan felt that she wasn't crazy; that she was just pretending. She had been a comforting presence to him - always knowing things that the rest of the Clan didn't seem to know. He couldn't accept her being crazy, as it would mean accepting that everything he had been told since childhood was the truth. He knew that not only his looks made him different. His entire existence, his outlook, was dependent on his ability to convince others that he wanted the same things they wanted. Right now, they wanted to figure out why not a single weapon the Government created seemed to cause him harm, and then to create a serum to inject the Government's elite soldiers...making them unstoppable. Sometimes he felt that he had no choice but to live his life this way, isolated from all that he loved, uncertain of what each day would bring - constantly searching for a lost part of himself. 

The setting sun told him that is was almost time for supper, causing him to growl and stalk over to the lavishly appointed black marble bathroom. He turned the shower on its hottest setting, tossing the midnight blue silk pants he was dressed in after the day's experiments towards the hamper, not sparing a glance at his back and the scars that criss crossed it, scars that he had all his remembered life - reminders of an event so painful he was positive he  would've remembered it. All he could remember when he thought about it was waking up with them, hearing a girl's terrified screams, and his mother sending her X to get a healer. He had tried to tell both his mother and father that his back didn't hurt - that they needed to find the little girl who was being tortured. Neither of them believed him, and told him that he was just experiencing vivid night terrors - due to the tales told at that night's Clan meeting. Both had agreed that this was a sure sign that he was destined to be a great warrior. 

He shook his head, clearing the memories, and wiped off the steam covered mirror. He knew that the scars either intimidated or intrigued most everyone who heard about them - his somewhat fierce demeanor seemed to take care of the rest. He found it weird that his younger sisters, Caedie Rain and Kierlie Skye, weren't the slightest bit bothered by his tempers or any other mood that crossed his mind. They were the main reason that he had agreed to come to the Government's research facility without a fight so that the scientists could study his gifts and help him to learn how to control them. Tadan desired this control almost more than anything in the world - this desire only surpassed by a need to learn the truth about himself and to learn why he was soul-bound to someone he only seemed to see in his dreams. However, a part of him felt that the price of this control would be to lose the little that he did know about himself and his life before the Tiwaz. 

He stepped into the still steaming hot shower, watching as the skin on his torso turned from a pale gold to a bright red. He knew that nothing would make a difference - there was nothing known to any of the existing clans or the Government that could harm him, save what caused the scars on his back and none of the scientists could figure it out. So, in both anger and frustration, they continued to experiment causing as much pain as they physically could - pain that he knew their assistants viewed as torture. The scientists were rather disappointed when he didn't display any flicker of emotion throughout the daily experiments. They didn't know that nothing they could do would come close to what his subconscious tortured him with every moment - they were just attempting to cause him physical pain. 

He shut off the water, stepped out of the shower, and once again wiped off the mirror barely glancing at his reflection. He knew that he wouldn't see the face that all of the maids swooned over, but only the creature that haunted him.

He whirled around, snatching the pants he had tossed and pulling them on when he heard panicked breathing on the other side of his suite's door. He stalked across the floor, throwing the door open expecting to see either a scared new maid delivering that evening's meal or a stable boy with a message about his horse, NAME. Instead he was faced with an identical set of young women about the age of his younger sisters - a set of young women that looked similar to the features he had avoided studying in the mirror, a scant five minutes ago. They had the same hair color, the same eye color, even the same pattern of freckles across the bridge of their perfectly shaped noses...a quick glance even told him that they even had the same long fingers as he did.

"Are you Tadan Lyons?" asked the girl dressed in a tunic the color of a cloudless summer sky.

"What if I am?" replied Tadan, leaning against the doorframe, in no hurry to invite these young women into his one sanctuary inside the government's current castle.

"Then we're related," replied the one dressed in a tunic the color of a stormy sky. 

"I'm Amalia, and this is Aurelia," her sister continued the answer, with a gesture toward the one in stormy gray. 

"We're what?" asked Tadan in shock, as he stepped back towards the bed, allowing them to enter the suite and close the door.

"Brother and sister," replied Amalia with a grin," meaning that we have the same mother and father."

"I know what it means, but how can this be?" Tadan wondered quietly, as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Well, when a woman and a man want to show..." began Amalia. 

"That's enough, Am," said Aurelia softly. "He doesn't remember anything about Mom, Dad, the binding ceremony or anything else. Or even how to find Jadan, much less how to help himself." 

"Whoa, wait a minute - are Caedie Rain and Kierlie Skye in trouble? Who is Jadan," Tadan questioned, as he raked his fingers through his still damp hair.

Aurelia studied their older brother and realized that his apparent amnesis was due to his loss of contact with Jadan. She also knew that that the scars on his back, scars that would prove both his identity and evidence of his soul bond with Jadan, could be completely healed once they arrived back home. Their mother was one of the few still living that could read and understand the markings caused by a binding ceremony. She recalled feeling the same way when Amalia had fallen through the skating pond, and into a deep sleep. She'd felt like she was going to go into that same deep sleep, and she'd been home with their parents who knew and understood the special gifts given to the members of their Clan.

"Relia," said Amalia, softly.

Aurelia glances over at her sister and barely notices as Tadan lights a fire in the fireplace - sending a welcome warmth and light into the darkening room.  

"Do you remember when you were in the hospital?" asked Aurelia. 

"No, but Mother said that I wouldn't remember anything about those events...that my soul's energy wasn't devoted to tragedy, that it only experiences joyous occasions. It's why when Nana died, you were the only one of us who outwardly mourned," said Amalia with a concerned glance at her twin. 

"Oh," breathed Aurelia, "I was just thinking that this whole process would've been easier if we had gotten Jadan first. She would've hopefully known more about what's going on."

"But Malachi said for us to go to Tadan first, that his gifts would be essential in locating Jadan," answered Amalia, watching as her sister leaned her head against the rapidly cooling window.

Aurelia leaned her head against the cooling glass, and watched as the courtyard emptied and the guards headed to their evening posts. She noticed that several of them would glance up towards the window she looked out, rub their eyes, and shake their heads as if they weren't sure if they were seeing anything. She couldn't believe that one of her family members could handle being constantly told what to do, where to go. She could feel Amalia trying to communicate with her, and Amalia's frustrations at the whole situation building up in her own head. She knew that soon she was going to enter a trance, causing the preparations to be even harder and that she was going to be a burden on her twin once more. She laid her palm against the window, and listened as the clock in the courtyard rang seven times.

How can we convince him that we're telling the truth, asked Amalia, as she wrapped an arm around her sister's waist and rested her head on her shoulder.

I don't have any idea. I was hoping that Mom or Malachi would've given us more information before we arrived, answered Aurelia with a sigh.

"Don't you know it's rude to talk about someone as if they're not in the room," Tadan asked, causing them to jump, as he tugged on a slate gray tunic. 

"You heard what we were saying," said Amalia, as she spun around in shock. 

"Uhm, yeah. You were talking out loud. In fact, I'm surprised no one's come to see why it's so noisy in here tonight," answered Tadan with a weird look on his face.

Amalia glanced over at Aurelia to see what she thought about this latest development, and was dismayed to noticed that she was in one of her trances. She knew that she alone had to convice Tadan to come back to Laurunius with them, along with whomever else was supposed to come, and that she had to do it quickly. Aurelia could only remain in a trance for five days before the both of them were comatose - Mother said that was how the Gods kept the balance despite their having the gift to control the weather. Aurelia going into a trance meant that a major storm was in the vicinity and she was keeping it from arriving, so they could travel safely. She tugged on her braid, and studied their older brother. She didn't know how much he could be trusted, or how much he knew about himself or his gifts. 

X was the one who could view a person's true self, the true essence of a person. But both Father and Mother had agreed that this journey wasn't for X - since he had the harder task of finding who his soul was bonded. The only thing X knew about this person was that they weren't a member of their Clan, and that it was possible they would be arriving with his siblings. 

Amalia glanced back at their brother, who she noticed was studying Aurelia with concern.

"Hey, is she okay," asked Tadan, gesturing towards Aurelia.

Tadan knew that people usually didn't stand in a single place, barely breathing, unless they went through the same training as the Tiwaz elite or something wasn't seriously wrong. He personally could slow his heartbeat down to make a person believe he was dead. He just didn't know what they were expecting him to do, or why he had surprised them...himself when he had entered their conversation. He could have sworn they were speaking aloud in the Government's required language, but their reaction was as if they were talking in their heads a language that was no longer spoken by any of the Clans. He raked his fingers through his hair, and glanced at the other girl, the one who had worry and concern rolling off her.  

"Right now, she's fine," said Amalia, with an anxious glance at her sister.

"She's fine, right now? What about twenty minutes from now, or even two weeks from now?," asked Tadan, as he paced around the room pulling on warmer clothing.

"Well, I am not exactly sure about two weeks, but she should technically still be okay in twenty minutes. I mean, she'll still be in a trance state but she won't be as close to dying," replied Amalia, quietly as she watched the guards in the courtyard change positions.

"Did you just say, as close to dying," said Tadan, coming to an abrupt stop in front of the suite's door.

"Well...yes," answered Amalia. "You see, I need to get her home to our Mother. She is a healer, and then Aurelia should be fine. But..."

"But you do not have the strength to carry her, is that correct," asked Tadan, slipping on a pair of sturdy boots.

"That is correct, my gifts don't extend to strength or endurance," said Amalia. "I can't ask you to carry her for me, as it is a long journey. Someone would notice that you are missing, eventually."

As the clock struck eight, Tadan shrugs as if he'd made a decision and checks the hallway for a maid, delivering the evening meal.

"The two of you made the journey, didn't you? As for them noticing that I'm missing, it'll give the guards something to do - a chance to properly use their training," Tadan said.

"Yes, the two of us made the journey but we didn't have to walk the entire way. We will have to walk as my gifts are diminished when Aurelia is sick, due to our souls being bound together. I imagine that you are still unaware of the full extent of your gifts," replied Amalia.

"My so-called gifts," scoffed Tadan, "are nothing more than a curse, and I would gladly get rid of them."

"A curse?" Amalia said in shock, "Surely, you don't mean to scorn something given to you by the Gods? Something that links you to both your Clan and your destiny?"

"Do not presume/assume to know how I feel about anything, you don't know me. It doesn't matter what I feel about them - gifts, curses - the result is the same in the end. You need help getting your sister to someone who can help, and the two of you wanted to convince me to help you find this Jadan," said Tadan, leaning against the doorframe.

"I suppose not, but we'd better wait until early in the morning - even the best trained guards tend to doze off in the darkest hours of the night," replied Amalia, with a slight shrug and a longing glance towards the bath.

"Do we not need to gather supplies and other things for our journey," said Tadan with a slight grin. 

It seemed to him that Amalia had more in common with his younger sisters than he first thought. Both of them had insisted on taking bubble baths as well. They also knew nothing of preparing for a journey despite their Mother teaching them basic hand-to-hand combat and that anything could happen, at anytime.

"I am going to go talk to someone within the castle that I completely trust, and take care of a few other things," said Tadan. "I will be sending someone up with something to eat, clean towels, and other things. They will knock before entering, so make sure neither of you are visible."

"How am I supposed to keep someone from seeing Aurelia," said Amalia.

"I'm quite sure you are smart enough to figure something out," said Tadan, as he softly closed the door behind him.

He chuckled softly, as he could hear Amalia fuming. He decided that he would head to the kitchens and visit Johiel. She was always willing to give him certain dishes that the scientists didn't want him eating, and she'd know which food wouldn't be missed as quick. He heard a thud behind him, and whistling headed down the hall.

* * * * * * * * * *

Aurelia took off her shoe, throwing it at the door, and then picked up a pillow to scream into it. She couldn't believe that her anger amused him, and she wasn't convinced that he was completely genuine in his desire to help her get Aurelia to their Mother. She desperately wanted to know what Aurelia thought about their situation. She gave one less longing glance at the huge bathtub, and walked over to the fire hoping she'd have the energy to maintain a connection long enough to let their Mother know what was going on. She reached into the pocket of her tunic, pulling out a bit of finely ground Earth from back home. She threw it onto the fire, and watched as the flames turned cobalt blue and almost flickered out before turning back to their normal colors. She let out a sigh of relief, when an image of Mother in her apothecary appeared. She was busy perparing a mixture for Gabrielle, who was pregnant with her first child. Aurelia knew that her Mother was anxious as the child was much bigger than normal and Gabrielle had such a tiny frame. The Clan was more interested to learn with what gifts that the Gods would bless the child, if the gifts would be helpful in helping them finally rescue the country from the Naudiz and restore the Feoh, the King and Queen to their rightful places ruling the country. 

"Mother," said Aurelia, quietly.

"Oh," said Serpha, as she turned around to face the large fireplace in her apothecary. "Where is Aurelia?"

"Catatonic again. Honestly, Mother, I thought you were going to give her something to keep it from this from happening while we were away from the Clan," said Amalia with frustration.

"You thought wrong, sweetheart. How is Tadan," replied Seraphima, turning around to continue the mixture for Gabrielle.

"At first he refused to listen to anything that we had to tell him. But after Aurelia went catatonic, he volunteered to help me bring her home. I figured it would give me a bit of time to get to know him better, and perhaps convince him of the truth about his destiny," shrugged Amalia, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I see. Do you have any idea what his gifts are and if they're the ones that will allow us to regain the Clans rightful place, allow your Father to...," said Seraphima, quietly.

"He says that his gifts are a curse, and that he's unwilling to use them. I think that maybe he's not learned how to control them, and accidentally harmed someone or something he cared about. But it could also have something to do with the scars on his back," said Amalia, glancing down at the pattern on the rug beneath her feet. 

"I know that you will do your best to convince him otherwise, and that you know what's at stake. He will want to bring a Jera with him. She will be beneficial on the journey, despite the fact that her Clan feels anger towards the Feoh. She won't hold it against you, as she hasn't held it against Tadan," said Seraphima, as she moved to put the fire out. 

"Mom, what about Aurelia," asked Amalia, with a resigned look on her face. 

"Aurelia...hm. You'll need to make a salve of mullein, scarlet geranium, dragon's egg yolk, and lavender within three days. Apply it to Aurelia's pulse points to keep her heart beating on a daily basis, until you reach the Verchiel River. Contact me once there, and I will tell you what to do," said Seraphima, distractedly as she gave a wave of her hand. 

Amalia watched in annoyance as the image of her Mother faded, and the flames turned cobalt blue and died out. She stomped her foot in frustration, and looked around the room for something to restart the fire. She took her dark caramel blonde hair out of its braid, and raked her hands through the curls. She couldn't help but wonder if Tadan's hair curled like hers and Aurelia's...like their Father's when it got a bit too long. 

A quick glance at her twin reminded her of the role she'd been playing since they were children - the responsible one; the prepared, perfect one; the one everyone came to with problems expecting her to solve them. She sometimes hated being the oldest...but she wasn't really, Tadan was the true oldest, the true heir. Everything that needed to happen was his responsibility, his problem...so where was he? Amalia strengthened her powers and gently reached out to see if she could find him. But all she could learn was that he was still somewhere within the walls of the castle, but she couldn't pinpoint his exact location. She hoped he would return quickly so they could leave. She disliked being in a place where she felt the urge to bottle up her gifts, her powers to give to another to use. They needed to get away from here before things got worse.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Tadan, you look as if you're in pain," said Johiel, with a laugh, as she pounded a bit of dough. "And I know that can't be the truth, so what's the matter?"

"Only because I pretended that I was the dough that you work. I'm working on my empathy," answered Tadan with a grin, as he swiped an apple from the bowl on the counter.

"You working on empathy? That is the funniest thing I've heard all month, and Andries has been telling me every single joke he's overheard the guards visiting the stables tell," Johiel said as she began setting up the tray for the President.

"I'm glad that I amused you, but seriously nothing's wrong," said Tadan, leaning against the counter next to her.

Johiel resumed pounding the dough, silently, for a few more minutes and then faced Tadan. She knew that he was in more pain that he cared to admit and that she would soon be leaving the secure, comfortable life she had built here at the University. She had known it since the President arrived earlier this evening; the whole atmosphere on campus, in the castle had changed. She still wasn't sure how the two events were connected, or if they even were. She had managed to keep her position here as Cook's assistant by keeping her mouth shut, by not telling her heritage, and mostly by not showing anyone her gifts. She feared that something was about to change, and she'd have to use them.

"Why do you lie to me," asked Johiel, walking around to look Tadan in the eyes.

"I don't lie, Johiel. How can I explain something that I don't understand myself," replied Tadan, as he wiped the apple on the hem of his tunic.

"Explain what," wondered Johiel, aloud, as she twisted her long black hair back into its usual loose bun.

Explain that I supposedly have younger twin sisters I knew nothing about, and they're upstairs in my room right now. One of them is catatonic, and that I need to accept my gifts and learn how to use them, thought Tadan to himself as he took a bite of the apple.

"You need to do the last thing anyways, Tadan, and you know it," said Johiel, as she shaped the dough for the next day's baking.

She walked over to the rack, and set the dough on it to set. She then began to ladle the soup on the stove into separate bowls - one being ivory with a platinum edge, the rest being simple clay bowls.

"I need to do what? Wait a minute, you can read minds," stated Tadan, with a look of disbelief at who he believed was his best friend here at the University.

"Don't be silly - no one has had the gift of reading minds, not since the old King died twenty years ago. I can read body language and see a person's intentions, among other things," said Johiel, as she took some spices off the shelf above the stove.

"Besides that you've got the same look on your face whenever anyone mentions your gifts, along with a bit of anxiety and excitement. You're getting ready to leave the Castle, and go on a journey," said Johiel, as she sprinkled some of the seasonings into the soup in the ivory bowl.

She turned away from Tadan and walked over to the other island to grab the tray she needed. She turned back around and saw that Tadan was about to take a bite of the soup she'd just seasoned. She walked over and knocked the spoon out of his hand.

"Johiel, what the hell," exclaimed Tadan, as he watched his spoon fly across the kitchen.

Johiel stalked across the room, muttering, picked up the spoon, and tossed it into a sink of soapy water. She turned around to face Tadan, and shook her head as if she was studying an unruly child.

"Never eat something that has not been prepared especially for you, especially from this kitchen. The Cook's Clan has the ability to enhance a person's natural abilities, their gifts if you prefer or to destroy them completely. Rumor has it, that's why the former King chose his wife Seraphima from the X Clan," said Johiel, as she set the ivory bowl on its proper tray.

Tadan stared at her in shock, he simply couldn't believe that the Cook was responsible for the odorless, flavorless food he'd been eating since his arrival. A part of him felt that went against everything a proper Cook should be doing. He watched as Johiel walked over to the outside kitchen door, and motioned over to one of the young boys standing outside it.

"Ritter, do you know which room that the President is staying," Johiel asked the unseen boy.

Apparently pleased by his answer, she stepped aside to allow him entrance. Tadan barely got a glance of a small boy with mousy brown hair and eyes that seemed to be black, with pale skin, staring up at Johiel as she gave her instructions.

"Ritter, take this tray up to the President's room. Make sure that you don't spill a drop and that you aren't tempted to taste it," said Johiel, firmly.

Young Ritter nodded his head, and carefully picked up the tray to carry it to his destination. Johiel watched as Ritter carefully walked up the stone stairs at the back of the kitchen, and wiped off the wood table where she's prepped the dough. She gave a quick glance around the kitchen, and satisfied grabbed her cloak.

"Well, are you coming or what," asked Johiel, as she headed out of the kitchen.

"Uhm...coming where," answered Tadan, tossing the core of his apple onto the compost pile.

"I thought that you were going on a journey with your newly found younger twin sisters, and that you might need some assistance. But I am obviously wrong," said Johiel in a frosty tone.

"Johiel, how do you know that I am going to leave," asked Tadan warily, as he followed her out the kitchen and towards the back entrance of the castle.

"Is that really the important thing, right now? Or is figuring out a way to safely get out of the Castle and away from the University more important," said Johiel, as she started to head upstairs.

"I see your point," said Tadan, starting to head up himself.

"No, you need to go to the stables to talk to Andries and to gather the supplies we'll need from the storage building," said Johiel, as she continued upstairs.