The Wishing Tree - Book Two [Completed]

Oh Lord - Part 21

We're in a cave, sitting around the fire I started and Mason's drawing a map of our route to the tree for Riven and Rocco to dissect. They discuss various route options, obstacles, animals and every once in a while, Clara pitches in. From what I can tell, Rocco and Riven are part of a tribe that often traveled whereas Clara's was more stationary. It's a confusing conversation since I don't know the landmarks or routes. Finally, I ask the question that's been weighing on me.

"Mason, how do you know all this? I get that you're old – really, really old. But, the things you can do..." I trail off and there's silence in the cave as the other three look at me like I'm an idiot and Mason avoids meeting my gaze. "What?" I look at each of them. "What am I missing?"

Mason takes a deep breath and sighs. "You haven't figured it out yet, Queenie?"

I'm bewildered. "Was I supposed to?"

Rocco shakes his head. "I thought you knew. I thought that's why you weren't afraid."

Clara laughs and the sound, so light and airy feels out of place with the tension in the room. "Immortal, immense power?" She raises her eyebrows at me. "Any of that sound familiar?"

"Sounds like Grayson, well, now like Ryan, but it's not possible to have more than one ruler of all the realms..." I'm babbling; it's not possible, and yet...

"I rule this realm, Queenie." He spreads his arms wide indicating the cave and beyond. "All of this beauty is mine. It's been mine for centrums. I am the judge and jury of everyone here. They go down or re-start on my whim." He gives a flamboyant snap of his fingers and then, looking grim, he skims over the others at the fire. "They were right to be afraid."

I'm stunned into silence and then I'm angry. "When we talked back at the Muttaty Clan, when we picked up Rocco and Riven and I asked you all those questions, why didn't you tell me? I asked you if we needed to worry about the Lord of the Realm and you laughed at me."

Mason looks mildly annoyed at me. "I wasn't sure if I'd get all my powers back. But, no one else gets to be Lord until I die. I didn't want you getting your hopes up that this journey would be easy."

Another of his phrases reverberates in my brain, bouncing around. "If you can snap your fingers and send people places, why haven't you just sent me up, then? Why am I still trapped here?"

Riven sighs. "It's really amazing how little you know about anything." He wipes out their map with a swipe of his hand and starts drawing squiggles in the sand. "He doesn't decide who goes 'up' as in to another realm, but more like who's time is up. He can banish them to the Ether, or at least I think he can." He glances at Mason for confirmation. "It's been a rumor for as long as I can remember."

"Yeah, when I'm really pissed off, I can send souls into the Ether – an eternity of immense nothingness. As far as I know, anyway, no one ever comes back to tell the tale. I don't do that much anymore; it's more fun to exact my revenge on them in lifetime after lifetime. I've never met a soul I didn't know." He seems so proud of himself that it sends a shiver down my back. Then, his words drop in me like a stone.

"Is that really true?" I cock my head to the side, watching him carefully.

He looks up from the ground with an amused expression on his face. "Which part?"

"That you've never met a soul you didn't know."

His smile fades, almost like he can follow my train of thought. "It's true."

"So, we've met before – before this incarnation of us."

Clara's eyes are on me like a laser and I realize she knows something, but I can't break my gaze from Mason. Every once in a while, something about him seems so familiar: green fields, comfort, a faint whiff of pine, a whisper in my ear.

Mason pretends to look at his invisible watch and he barks out a fake laugh. "Well, would you look at the time. Long day tomorrow. Pick your cave corner."

"Mason," I say.

His voice is sharp when he answers me, but he avoids looking at me. "We're not trading war stories, Queenie. It wouldn't be fair to you."

I look down at Riven's squiggles, uneasy. "But," I search for Mason in the half-dark. He's retreated to the far corner, "someday, you'll tell me?"

"It's not a pretty story." He lays down, his back to me. "If the time is ever right, I'll tell you."

I know it's the best I can hope for, but I still want to push. Clara shifts beside me and I wonder whether I can force her to tell me things; if she'll give up the information more readily. In my mind, I see a flash of her coming out of the tree that first day, saying to Mason, I know who she is to you. I never thought to question that; I assumed she was referring to my bond with Ryan. 

Rocco touches my arm and he's laid out a game of tic-tac-toe in the sand. Glancing up at him, I shake my head and move to another corner of the cave, feeling oddly despondent at Mason's abruptness with me. I want to go over, sit beside him and demand answers. 

How did your friendship with Grayson fall apart? How did we know each other in some other life? Why are you helping me? What deal do you have with Ryan? 

Instead, I lie down on the cold, hard ground and let my thoughts spiral out of control. As I close my eyes, I want, more than anything, to talk to Ryan. As I drift to sleep, one final thought plagues me: How is this all going to end?

Author's Note:

How do you think it's going to end? How would you answer Hannah's questions for Mason, knowing what you know so far? Did you know he was the Lord of the Realm? Are you surprised?