9 ~8~

A small, thin man in brown overalls, big brown boots, and huge spectacles too big for his face answered the door.

His hair was as black as night, and a few silver streaks shone like stars.

"Are. You. Insane!" She growled as he took us by the shirts and pulled us inside.

"Father," Said Lucian, "What's going on?"

The man looked completely mad as he pocked his head out his front door, looking around as if he had suspected we had been followed or something.

Then he slammed the door shut and turned to us, A vain bulging just above his left eye.

"You could have been kidnapped! And that! What is that?" He said pointing to Mirk, who was perched on Lucian's shoulder.

"He's my charm"

"What are you talking about?" I interrupted, "You know; about the kidnapping?"

And for the first time since we had arrived, he turned his gaze on me. His eyes softening just a bit.

"Ivory Evans," He said.

I flinched at the sound of my own name. People rarely called me Ivory, and most who did knew who I was first. But I had just met this strange man.

"No," I said. "Just Ivy. Ivy Dodson"

The man smiled warmly at me. "I think you should come with me"

Fraya and Lucian found their own way around whilst their father pulled me into a study on the fourth floor of the lighthouse.

The room was lined with bookshelves and littered with papers and folders, pens, and quills. Candles lit the room, along with a roaring fire. And three comfy armchairs sat in the middle of the room.

The man sat down in the first one. Then gestured for me to sit in the one in front of him. So I did.

"Do you know who you are, Ivory Evans?" He asked.

This question surprised me.

"Well, of course, I do"

The man shook his head. "But do you really know?"

I stared at him in disbelief.

"Do you know your mothers' name?" He continued.

"Excuse me?"

"Where exactly were you born?"

"I-"

He held up a silencing finger.

"And why do you feel more at home here, than anywhere in the first world?"

This question stumped me.

There was a long silence before the man went on, "I can tell you why".

I looked up at him.

"You, are the daughter of a Queen"

Another moment of silence.

"I...What?"

The man smiled at me, then turned and called, "Nera!"

A sliver-blue head poked up from behind a bookshelf, and over flew a tiny winged human.

"A fairy?" I gasped.

"A pixie," Said the man as the little pixie stood on his shoulder, gripping his ear for balance.

"Please bring me the prophecy," he said.

I sighed. I thought people would stop accusing me of being the girl in that prediction. But I guess not.

"I'm not her-" I started to say, but he began reading as soon as the parchment touched his hands.

"A child with hair of night and eyes of stone,

At thirteen, will take her rightful place in a foreign home.

two sisters' paths collide,

one is forced to say goodbye.

siblings fight, but now there's war,

She'll find the queens, now one more.

She'll bring them home and save us all.

Once the last lord falls."

He took the paper away from his face and stared at me.

"My wife, bless her soul, wrote this prophecy," He said.

"Josephine?"

He nodded, "You are familiar with her?"

"Well, I remember hearing her name mentioned once. When I first arrived a girl named Rain Evans had mentioned it to her father"

The man nodded, "It does not surprise me"

"what do you mean?"

"Nevermind that. Ivory, you must know, there is more to this prediction. A second half, no one knows. Please try and listen while I read it to you"

I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again, and nodded.

The man took a sharp, painful breath, then continued to read.

"Once she's found, she'll be the key. To finding the Queens, inside the Willow tree.

She'll go down, and discover Creed.

The Queens are in danger.

They need to be freed.

She'll meet a friend and a love that grows real.

Will they all make it out?

That is something I can't reveal"

Once he was one, I sat there, speechless.

After I finally regained feeling in my mouth I said, "I...Don't understand"

"It is a prophecy, my dear girl. You are not meant to"

He sighed.

"But I can tell you this. "Josephine wanted to build the lighthouse on this cliff for a reason. There is an old Willow just outside. Been there even before we were born"

"So, your saying...That's the tree from the Prophecy?"

He nodded.

I thought for a moment.

"Will Fraya and Lucian, you know..." I trailed off, already knowing the answer.

"No. Both Lucian and Fraya were born in the second world, they can not escape. But it is quite different for you. You were born in the second world"

"I what!"

"-But you have the blood of a Queen rushing through your veins. And the ability to escape"

"But..." I hesitated.

"How do I know you are the one?" Asked the man. I nodded.

"It is like a feeling. Right here" He put a hand over his heart. "And a sense of knowing, here" He pressed a boney finger against his temple.

I don't know how long I sat there trying to possess this. But then, suddenly, I was reminded of the reason why we came to this place to begin with.

"I can read the Queen's hand," I told him.

He nodded. "I figured. Ivory-"

"Please stop calling me that. It's just, Ivy"

The man smiled. "You were given this name by one of the four Queens. Wear it with pride"

I shook my head. "I hate it. I always have"

The man nodded and started again.

"Ivy. You are the daughter of a Queen, you can not be alarmed every time you acquire a new ability. Which you will acquire new ones"

I nodded. I already knew that the Queens triggered so many abilities that no one really knows for sure how many.

"You will stay here for the night Ivor...Ivy. Then I will send you off, into the willow"

"Okay," I said glumly.

"But, keep in mind. You will have ten moons to get back through that door. Then after that, you'll be trapped there, in Creed"

"Forever?" I asked.

The man shook his head. "No, not forever. But it will not reopen within your lifetime"

I felt fear, clawing at me.

"But, the prophecy said...Oh, god...It said we won't all make it out!"

My hand flew to my throat as it began to tighten.

"Hey, it never said that," The man said, but I wouldn't listen.

He sighed again. "Why don't you go up to bed now. We'll talk more in the morning"

I nodded, but even as I left the room my mind was still racing a thousand miles per hour.