Before the Ever Green (BTEG #1) ✔️

Chapter 42

"What's that?" I ask, as Allison flips closed the book she was looking at.
She looks up at me, "Nothing."
I snatch the book from her hands.
"Addilyn!" She yells. I'm not listening. I flip to the page she was on. 586. I am flipping through the smooth pages, and trying to find it. There is a picture of a stone. "Addilyn, please. Stop." She is grabbing for the book. I am moving around the house, not allowing her to snatch it back. But, it is making it hard to read. Really hard. He hand is so close, and I smack it away. I put it behind my back. She huffs.
"Tell me what it is." I demand
"It is nothing, Addilyn."
"Then why don't you want me to see it?" I ask, "If it's nothing-what's wrong with me seeing it?"
"Addilyn-"
"No. Allison. I am going to find out one way or another." My eyes flicker to the door for only a moment. A moment enough for her to catch my threat.
She huffs, slumping her shoulders, "It's a stone." She is being sarcastic. "You caught me. I like looking at stones."
I give her the are-you-freaking-kidding-me look. I start to run for the door. She tries to stop me, but is too slow. I am out the door, and headed for the trees. She won't catch me.
When I am deep in the forest, I re-open the book to page 586. I can actually read it, this time. It is a tale of a stone that can take away any power. The bottom part of the page is ripped off, after the word warning. Why would someone do that to a poor book?
I look up, to see Allison standing above me. I stand up, using the tree trunk. "Why didn't you want me to see this?" I ask.
"I didn't want you getting any ideas."
"Ideas about what? Getting rid of my powers before I even know what they are?"
"That's the thing, see-"
I cut her off, "You know my power. Don't you?"
"Yes."
I can't believe this. She has known all this time. Why didn't she tell me?
She is looking at me, "Addilyn..." I look up at her, "I know, because of a prophecy."
"A prophecy?"
"When I was younger, I had a boyfriend named David. He was a prophecy holder. Basically he could see the future. What is to come.
"Could?" I ask
"He was killed by the new rulers, when he refused to tell his knowledge." She blinks back tears, "Before he died, he told me of a prophecy pertaining to my family in particular. About a baby girl, who would be born to to magical parents. Something very hard to do, because the powers fight each other, and cause a war. But your parents were strong. Love. Love was the third power. The power that fought both powers. The third strength. The strength that allowed you to be born. But, that also killed your father. Love was strong, but it's not always strong enough." She takes a breathe, "David told me that he could see his future, too. That he wouldn't change it. He had a duty. He would stick to it, but he also told me that I had to know. So, he went on to sitting with me one last time on the couch, and telling me how you would be born to two magical parents, and how you-you would be the savior. The thing this world needs to rekindle it's strength. Addilyn, your gift, your power, it does not have one meaning. One power. But, all power. You are the forces of earth. All you have to do...is learn to control it. To harvest it, and learn to be you. To fully be that person."
"What if I don't want to be that person?"
"Don't go to the stone." She says, she knows what I am thinking.
"Why? Why can't I just live a normal life?" I am looking at the book in my hands
"Because, Addilyn, you aren't normal. Never have been. Never will be. Except who you are." She sounds so strong with her words, "Accept that you will be the thing to bring this Earth back. To make Earth a better place. Change. Change the Earth. Change it into something new. Something better...You have the power, and people to support you."
"Who?"
"Brit. Jaeger. Everett. Me."
"You can't change the world with 5 people."
"No. But, 5 people can gather more, and sure as hell make a difference. Every heard the saying 'We may be small, but we are mighty'?" She asks me.
I shake my head, "No."
"You have, now." She gives me a half smile, "It may only be 5 in the morning here, but somewhere else, the sun has already risen. It may be different in other places, but we all live under the same heat. The same sun. We all live under the command of one man."
"Who?" I ask, "Who is that one man?"
"No one has seen his face. No one knows who he is, really. But...his name has a lot of meaning."
"Who?" I ask again
"Forest Green."
Who the hell is Forest Green? Who names there kid Forest?
"So...my battle is against a ghost, with a stupid name-Forest Green?"
She nods, "But...don't underestimate him. Never underestimate anyone. Always overestimate, you'll be a lot better off."
"So, we're gonna start a war?" I ask
"No...you are...we are just going to follow your lead. It's your destiny."
Maybe destiny made a mistake.
"Let's start a war." I say, but in my mind, I am thinking more about the stone than the idea of going up against an 'invisible' man. I'd have a lot less trouble if I could find the stone. I wouldn't be a powerful person. I would be normal. I w=could live a normal life. I could move-some where where the name Maribella Ember doesn't make people cringe, and want to hide or fight.
"Let's start a war." Allsion says, helping me up, and grabbing her book from my hand. She is smiling, proud. It's a good thing she is happy and proud, because I am not. I am the exact opposite of happy. The exact opposite of proud. I don't want to start a war.
I might as well kill myself, now.