The Serenader

Chapter 16

Calya's POV
"What?" I asked. "Something important?"

Atlas grabbed his satchel. He ripped the violin and bow out of my hands, then quickly packed up the case.

"You have to explain what's going on," I pleaded. "What did you see?"

It didn't seem fair that my Illusion caused this, yet Atlas got to know everything.

He started down the stairs. I followed after him, hastily packing up my things in a rush.

"Why are we leaving?" I yelled down the staircase.

"We are not going anywhere," Atlas corrected. "I am going home."

I understood he had seen something that left him shaken. Illusion can be disorienting like that. But he wasn't in any shape to travel alone, not right into the danger I felt coming off of him.

When I tried to follow him downstairs, he stopped me.

"You need to stay," he told me, the look of seriousness in his eyes reminiscent of our father. "I know this is hard to comprehend but I need you to stay here. There's danger at home."

"So you're going to leave me here while Des and Eclipse and Blythe and our father have to deal with it?" I was halfway down the stairwell. All three of the Wixxes watched intently from the cozy living room sofa, like they wanted to know what was happening but they knew they shouldn't interrupt.

"That's why I'm going back!"

I grabbed his arm. "You can't get rid of me that easily. Besides, if this is about Illusion, you need me."

Atlas wrung his trembling hands. "Juliette Sommers killed our mother, Cal. She sank that ship."

I nearly gasped, my eyes welling up with hot tears. "How?"

"Illusion."

"But..." I searched for something that would justify his claim, but as I suspected, I came up empty. What he suggested was unthinkable, not even possible. "That's not true. We can't do that."

It was terrifying, acknowledging the similarity between me and Juliette Sommers.

"A month ago, I would've thought emotional manipulation was impossible, too," Atlas pointed out. "And a non-Noble Illusionist. Who knows what else she can do?"

"Juliette... she's the danger you mentioned?"

Atlas nodded gravely. "The Serenade... it must have been played on that ship. Somehow it recorded everything that happened, and it showed it to me."

"The song? Do you think Juliette did that too?"

Atlas shook his head. "No." He stepped off the staircase and lingered between there and the living room. I followed suit. It was then I noticed the Wixxes had left the room. "I think our mother did. I saw her fingering something on another violin. Whether she knew it or not, she trapped that moment in an emotion, in an Illusion."

"Was she—?"

"Like you?" Atlas finished my question for me. "And like Juliette?" He nodded, and I felt the most out of place sense of serenity I suspected I would ever feel in my life. "Yeah."

"Then I'm coming with you." When Atlas started to protest, I cut him off. "Our mother couldn't stop Juliette, but maybe I can."

"I can't put that on you, Cal. I'm the heir, not you."

"I won't ever sit on the throne, but I've inherited her Illusion," I shot back. This time I flooded my voice with my power, with my mother's power. "I'm coming with you."