Sahara Ashdell: The Son of Evil (Book 2)
Chapter 10 - The Future is Clearer

When she arrives to the locker room she makes sure she is alone before she teleports to Holestroy Castle. She needed to speak with the aran as soon as possible. She quickly makes her way around the castle until she finds him in a meeting with some elves in his office. “Aranel?” Aran Rayterbay says standing up in surprise.

“I am sorry to interrupt. I can wait.” She says turning to leave and close the door.

“I will be back in a few moments.” She hears the aran say to the four elves sitting at the conference table.

She stands impatiently out in the hall as he moves toward her. “Why are you not at Malorsty?”

“Heltus needs killed. Now.” She says hastily. The aran grabs her by the arm looking alarmed by her urgent words.

He drags her toward the library with him and again closes the door before casting a sound blocking spell around the room before he speaks again. “How do you know that name?”

“He was in the future I saw. If he is not killed as soon as possible they will become too strong to defeat. I get forced to leave everyone and go back to hide in the human world. You have to find him and kill him!” She feels her stress level increasing at the idea of her begging someone to kill another elf. The aran just looks at her patiently for a moment in silence, so she pleas more, “Please, before he vessel swaps.”

“I do not wish to know who, but does he vessel swap with someone close to you?” The aran asks still looking calm.

“What does that matter? He needs found before he…” She tries to beg again but the aran stops her.

“It matters because I know there was an alternate future you saw. I assume, from what I learned from your father’s encounters with the declure, that you know who’s body he takes over. I also assume it is someone you care a great deal for or you would not be so passionate about such a mission. In that alternate future is not that elf killed after Heltus takes over their body?” The aran says gently.

Sahara looks down painfully. She had not wanted to fill him in on all the other details but obviously he knew much more about how the declure worked than she had thought. “Could there not be a third alternate future?” Sahara asks wondering if he knows.

“I wish I could say yes, but your father always seemed to think it had to be one or the other.” He replies sorrowfully.

“But not if you find Heltus first.” Sahara reasons.

“If we have not been able to find Patreek in all these years, how do you expect us to find one of his followers?” The aran asks, leaving her silent. After a moment he continues, “I will see what I can find out about where he might be, but you may need to come to terms with the alternate future and the fact that whomever’s body he takes may be the only key to killing him.”

Sahara’s heart breaks at the idea as tears finally break from her eyes. “I can’t kill her. I just can’t. There has to be another way.”

The aran pulls her in for a tight hug as she cries. “I will do everything I can to find him.” After a few moments she pulls away from their hug and wipes her eyes. “Should you not be at practice right now?” He asks.

“I know. Sorry, I teleported here without anyone knowing.” She confesses.

“Then, you should get back before Shawdlortur telicalls me in a panic.” He smiles at her as he releases the sound barrier from the room.

“Please let me know if you find him?” Sahara asks and he nods consolingly in reply. She then teleports back to the girls empty locker room, before running out to practice late.

“Are you avoiding me?” Bularia blurts out in frustration.

“What?” Sahara asks trying to sound innocent.

“You have been acting weird and have barely talked to me all week.” Bularia says.

“I have just been overloaded with homework.” She is not lying, she has been working on all the extra work to get ahead in her studies to avoid having to take any courses over the summer.

“You have less work this year than last and that never stopped you from talking to me before.” Bularia crosses her arms in disbelief.

Sahara closes her book and rises to move over towards Bularia. “I know. Sorry.”

“Did I do something?” Bularia asks.

“No. You didn’t do anything, I just have had a lot going on. We can hang out now if you want?” Sahara says apologetically.

“I hear there is a fourth year party we can sneak to.” Carol says excitedly.

“Did your new deeto tell you that?” Bularia asks throwing a sock toward Carol.

“Ew! Is that dirty?” Carol squeaks as she jumps away from the sock.

“Wait, you have a new deeto?” Sahara asks in surprise.

“You have been avoiding us all.” Carol says sounding annoyed.

“I know. I am sorry.” Sahara apologizes to her three roommates. “I won’t do it again.”

“His name is Unter.” Carol says bubbly. “He said my eyes were like stars in the night sky.”

“When did he happen?” Sahara asks curiously.

“We met over holiday at eve’s lighting. Which you would have known had you stayed after lighting the lights.” Carol says.

“Brystol was ill. So, we had to get back.” Sahara says.

“Everyone wondered where he was. He seems better now.” Marol adds to the conversation.

“Should we go?” Bularia asks holding a new looking shirt up against her to see how it looks. “I could wear my new top.”

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“Yes! Let’s go!” Sahara says jumping in excitement. She could use some fun.

The four elleths make their way down to the fourth-year party that is in one of the classrooms. “I thought the party would be in the red room? Could we get in trouble for being in here?” Marol asks as she stands nervously outside of the doorway.

“Stop being so cautious all the time. Live a little.” Bularia says pulling Marol inside the classroom with her.

They begin to dance to the music and laugh as the fourth-year students begin to notice them. “What are you second-years doing here?” A fourth-year elleth asks in a hateful tone.

“They are here with me.” An attractive ellon says as he wraps his arm around Carol’s shoulders.

“Whatever.” The elleth says rolling her eyes and walking away.

“Hey.” Unter says with a cute smile toward Carol.

“Hi.” Carol says sounding as though she just melted.

“Hi Sahara.” Unter says bowing his head slightly toward her.

“Nice to meet you.” Sahara says politely in reply before she realizes he looks extremely familiar.

“You three try to stay out of trouble. I am going to steal Carol away.” He says smiling down at Carol.

“I know him.” Sahara says trying to figure out why he looked so familiar.

“Well, he has been here the last two years.” Bularia says teasingly.

“Yeah.” Sahara says brushing off the idea that she has seen him somewhere else. The three girls begin to dance and laugh again and it is just a few moments later that Sahara feels a warm body move up against her back and begin to dance with her. She glances back, seeing Slagwart. It makes her jump in surprise, she had thought it would be a fourth-year ellon. “Quinton!”

“Hey.” He laughs sounding odd before grabbing her by the arm and pulling her back up against him. “Come back and dance with me.”

“Have you been drinking?” Sahara asks smelling the strong scent of alcohol on him. She feels his hands move down to her butt and it makes her feel uncomfortable.

“I always bring some to the parties. You want some?” He asks as his nose nuzzles her neck making her feel more uncomfortable.

“Stop.” She says quietly in his ear as she notices others beginning to watch them.

“Just last week you were asking me to sleep with you. I will if you still want.” Slagwart says still rubbing his hands on her butt and pulling her tighter up against him.

“No. Stop it.” She says trying to push him away from her but Slagwart continues to hold her tight.

“She said stop it!” She hears Brystol’s angry words as he yanks Slagwart away from her.

“Sorry!” Salgwart holds his hands up as he steps backwards. “Chill out Bryst. We were just having a little dance.”

“You okay?” Brystol asks looking over toward Sahara. She nods her head feeling uncomfortable with everyone looking at them. “Come on.” He says holding out his hand toward her. She takes it without hesitation and they walk out of the room.

“I’m sorry.” She is not sure why she is apologizing.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. He has obviously been drinking.” He says stoping and turning towards her in the hall. She thinks back to the two futures she saw at Malorsty. She appeared to be involved with Brystol in both. She then thinks to the first time she saw the future and she was not with him in either version. It was confusing and here he is standing right in front of her looking so cute and irresistible. Why does she want to kiss him so badly? “Are you sure you’re okay?” He asks and Sahara realizes she can hear her heart thumping in her ear as she remembers how Unter looked so familiar. He was her husband in the second future she had seen last year.

“I have to go!” She says suddenly, pulling her hand from Brystol’s and turning to run up to her dorm room. She paces the floor when she arrives to her room. Why had the futures been conflicting. It just didn’t make sense in her head. She realizes she had seen the futures of the places she was at when she used the declure. She wonders if that is how the declure worked. Maybe she had to be in the location of where the future was going to be for her to see that future. She flings her trunk open and shuffles through looking for the declure. She finds it and fixes her trunk to look normal before she teleports back to Holestroy into her usual bedroom. She uses her finger to create light, so it shines through the declure and reveals the rainbow. She reads the words before the room shakes.

A picture appears to show a pile of stones on the ground that look as though they had been burnt. “Brystol would have never let this happen.” She hears an older looking Trylla say to a familiar looking ellon. Sahara remembers the ellon as being her husband in the second future she had seen last year. It was Unter.

“It was not your fault tari.” The ellon says to Trylla.

“Sahara abandoned us.” Trylla says sounding angered. “There is no one else to blame. She is to blame. She is why my brother is dead. She is why my parents are dead. She is why Patreek won our kingdom. She is the enemy!” Sahara feels her heart break at what she is hearing.

The picture flashes to a beautiful Holestroy castle that is standing beautifully in the summer sun. “I have said it before, and I will say it again.” She sees her future self walking with Unter through the courtyard of Holestroy as he speaks, “I know I have said the past five years with you have been the best for my people but, I could never thank you and the aran enough.”

“It is our pleasure to help you. How are Carol and the little ones?” The future Sahara asks.

“They are well. She sent you this.” Unter hands Sahara a letter. Sahara sighs in relief and surprise realizing she must never have been married to him in the vision she had seen.

“Anglis! Slow down.” She sees a future Brystol yelling toward a young red headed girl that is running toward her.

“Mommy!” The small child says in excitement as Sahara scoops her up into a hug.

“Hi darling. Is daddy not letting you have fun again?” Sahara asks teasingly toward Brystol. Sahara feels her heart drop as she realizes she is married to Brystol in this future.

“It is her getting hurt that I worry over love.” Brystol says taking Sahara by the hand. “There is my most trusted friend!” He says toward Unter, who bows to him.

“I thought that was me?” Sahara asks sounding falsely hurt. The picture suddenly fades and Sahara has to sit down to catch her breath. She had misunderstood the future.

She realizes she has to find Brystol, so she teleports to him. He is in his dorm room with two of his roommates. He looks shocked as he shoves her down beside his bed so that the other two elves do not see her. Luckily they had been looking at something and laughing when she appeared and did not notice her.

“You know there is a party down in the defenses classroom?” Brystol asks trying to sound normal.

“In one of the classrooms? What kind of elf is brave enough to hold a party in a classroom?” One of the ellons asks with a laugh.

“It is the fourth-years. We should go.” Brystol says and Sahara taps on his leg as she shakes her head no at him. She had come to talk to him. He couldn’t leave. “You two go on down and I will be right behind you.”

“Yeah. Okay.” The two elves were easier to convince than Sahara had expected.

As soon as the door closes Brystol looks down at her in what she thinks is frustration. “What are you doing in here?”

“I needed to talk to you.” She says standing up from her awkward position.

“What if they had seen you just appear. You can’t teleport into my room.” He says scolding.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were in here. I just teleported to you. I didn’t think about where you might be.” Sahara says feeling awkward as she thinks what might it had been like if he had been in the bathroom or in the party with all those witnesses. He remains silent and she feels the awkwardness grow.

“Well?” He says laughing.

“Oh right.” She says shaking her head. “I was um.” She realizes she didn’t even know what she wanted to tell him. “I was…” She doesn’t want to admit she was wrong about the future, and she doesn’t want to tell him they were actually married. He looks at her as though she is in some sort of pain. “Thank you. For earlier.” She finally says.

“You’re welcome?” He says looking confused by the urgency in her having to tell him that.

She moves toward the door to leave before she realizes that she can’t walk out in the ellon’s side. “Oh. I should probably teleport.”

“Are you sure there was nothing else?” He asks. She is not sure how to respond as she turns back toward him. He stands from his bed, leaving the book he was holding. He walks towards her as he speaks. “I don’t think you came just to thank me.”

She closes her eyes as she shakes her head. “I just came from Holestroy.”

“Is everything okay? Why where you in Holestroy?” He sounds concerned.

“No, I mean yes. Everything is fine. I just needed to see the future again.” She says trying to talk herself into swallowing her pride. “I realized the declure shows me the future of where I am when I use it. One of the fourth-years was the ellon in my second future last year. I, I just had to confirm it.”

She notices his expression sadden. “Oh.”

“He and Carol are currently a thing, I guess.” Sahara says still trying to build up to telling him.

“That might get awkward.” Brystol says turning and walking back to his bed, where he falls down on his back.

“No. It won’t.” She says causing him to look at her oddly and begin to say something. She quickly blurts it out before he can say anything. “They get married. I don’t marry him. I misunderstood what I had seen.”

“So, I don’t die?” He asks perking back up.

“No. You still die in the first version because Trylla was the aran and hated me. But you were still alive in the second.” She says twisting her foot in nervousness.

“So, I still have a 50/50 chance of living. I’m sorry,” He looks at her as he stands up trying to understand why she is telling him all this, “Why is this relevant?”

“I guess it is not.” She says shaking her head as she tells herself no.

He smiles taking a step toward her after a moment of silence. “Who were you married to in the second version?”

“What?” She wrinkles her forehead toward him.

“Who were you married to?” He says biting his smile and stepping even closer.

“I don’t…” She looks back toward the door nervously. “I don’t know.”

“You do marry me. Don’t you?” He asks pulling her shirt so that she moves up next to him.

“I mean.” Sahara tries to avoid his eye contact. “I…I don’t know.”

“I think you do know.” He says teasing her.

“Fine! Yes. We are married in the second future.” She says trying to push him away from her, but he pulls her toward him with a smile.

“And?” He asks.

“And nothing.” She says feeling annoyed.

“You like me.” He says.

“I never said that.” Sahara says shaking her head.

“You didn’t have to.” He says before he pulls her closer and kisses her. She feels her heart explode from the touch of his lips on hers. She never thought she would feel like this about Brystol. He breaks their kiss as he looks her in the eye before he asks, “Be my keeto?”

“What?” She says feeling her heart jump again. “We are betrothed.”

“Yes. I know. But that is something that was decided for us. I am asking you to doing something because you want it.” He explains as he holds her hand.

She kisses him softly before she nods her head, “Yes. I will be your keeto.” His smile grows bigger than she had ever seen him smile, as he hugs her tightly in excitement. “Should we go back down to the party?” She asks feeling uncomfortable with what she just agreed to.

“I did tell Hamon and Westev I was going down to meet them.” He says releasing her from the hug.

“I should probably teleport and not walk out of the ellon’s dorm.” Sahara says wrapping her arms around Brystols shoulders. “Would you like to teleport with me?”

“I would go anywhere with you.” He says before Sahara teleports them down to the room across from the party. They hold hands as Brystol leads them out into the hallway.

“Brystol?” His two roommates are staring at them in surprise as they enter the hallway from the stairs that lead to the ellon’s dorms. “How did you beat us down?” One of the ellon’s asks.

“Oh.” Brystols looks over at Sahara in surprise. “I don’t know. That is weird. Did you stop at the bathroom or something?”

“No.” They shake their heads and Brystol decides to just ignore their response.

“You know my keeto, Sahara?” He points to Sahara, who quickly smiles and waves.

Hamon and Westov look surprised by the introduction before Westov speaks. “We have a few classes together.”

“Right.” Sahara says remembering both of them are in three of her other courses. “Hi.”

“Keeto?” Sahara hears Bularia speak behind them and it causes her to release Brystol’s hand and turn around. “Did he just introduce you as his keeto?”

“Um. Yeah.” Sahara says smiling shyly at Bularia.

“Marol!” Bularia suddenly shouts loud enough for the entire floor to hear.

“Shh!” Sahara hushes Bularia’s loudness as the entire room of elves turn to look at them.

Marol comes toward them looking embarrassed. “What is so important you have to embarrass me?” She asks quietly as she arrives outside the room in the hall.

“Sahara, tell her.” Bularia points toward Brystol as she tries to hide her excitement.

Sahara feels herself blush as she glances over at Brystol, who is laughing at the situation. “Brystol and I are together.” She mumbles so much no one can even tell what she said.

“What?” Marol asks stepping closer.

“We are officially together.” Sahara says rolling her eyes as she points to Brystol.

Marol screeches in glee, “I knew you liked him!” Marol quickly stops her excitement and gets a serious face before she asks, “Or are they making you do this too?”

Sahara shakes her head in response as Brystol answers taking her by the hand, “No. We are dating because we chose to. Not because of what anyone else wants.”

“Awe! That is cute.” Marol says sweetly before she hugs Sahara. “I have to go tell Carol, she owes me 200 coin.”

“What?” Sahara asks.

“We made a bet. I bet the two of you would be together before the end of this school year and she thought it would be by the end of next school year.” Marol smiles triumphantly. “I must go collect.”

“You bet on when we would get together?” Sahara can’t believe what she is hearing.

Bularia sounds angry as she asks, “Why didn’t I get a bet?”

“You were not in the room when we made it.” Marol says shrugging her shoulders before she leaves them.

“That is not a good excuse.” Bularia mumbles as she stomps behind Marol back toward the party.

“See. Everyone knew how you felt about me but you.” Brystol says wrapping his arm around her shoulders and walking with her towards the party.

Sahara laughs at him for only a moment before she stops walking and looks up at him. “You aren’t going to help Patreek anymore are you?” She asks.

“Are you still mad at me for that? No. I mean if it is what I have to do to protect you, but Raglen has just seemed to disappear since..” He looks around with his quiet words hoping no one can hear them. “I was wounded.”

“I am just making sure.” Sahara says moving away from him and holding out her hand. “Want to dance with your keeto?”

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