Broken Souls
Chapter 34: Castle in the Clouds

Kay’s POV

I know what to do. I actually know where to go and what I need to do. I can’t get to Grandma fast enough. I need to get to this castle in the clouds.

“Are you really sure about helping Seth? Do you really want to save him after everything he has done?” Diana questions.

“Yes, I really do. It won’t change what he has done, and I won’t forget that, but I have to do this.” Diana goes quiet. I know she’s less willing to help the monsters Seth and Cain, but I have to. My mother even said I needed to face Seth, and I think this is what she meant. The part of Seth I found in the void, his soul, was so different, so lost, and broken.

I reach the spot I left Granma and Oriel, and I skid to a stop shifting and grabbing my clothes.

“Grandma, I need you to tell me about the castle in the clouds.” I pant out as I hurry to pull my clothes on. I hear her gasp for air, and I pull my head through my shirt to look at her.

“What is it?” The look of complete shock on her face has hints of terror and sadness.

“How did you?” Grandma asks, not even begin able to speak everything I think she wants to say.

I take a deep breath and start to tell her. Before I can, however, Aaron joins our little group with his arms crossed over his chest. He’s scowling at the three of us, but I’m too wound up to care. I run to him flinging my arms around him.

“I know what I need to, and I know where we have to go.” I say as he catches hold of me. “I have to save him.”

“Save who?” Aaron questions.

“Seth.”

“What? After everything, you have to save him?” Aaron roars letting go of me and stepping back. He looks at me like I have completely lost my mind.

“Yes.” I shoot back at him crossing my arms and scowling at him.

“Why don’t we go and talk about all of this inside? The trees have ears.” Grandma chimes in looking and sounding more like herself.

Grandma walks over and locks arms with me. She pulls me with her breaking the staring war Aaron and I are having. As Grandma pulls me passed Aaron, Oriel walks up to him. I can hear her smack his arm. I don’t have to look to know Oriel is glaring at him. I hear both of them stomping behind me and Grandma.

We get back to the pack house and make it to the library. The library has become completely Grandma’s. She can be found there all hours of the day and night. Aaron is still scowling; I know how he feels, but he must understand I have to save Seth’s soul from Haedon.

“Aaron please try and understand,” I began to reason with him.

“You want to help that man, that monster, after everything he has done to you! After everything he has done to me and so many others, you want to help him! How can you want to help him? He deserves nothing but a slow and painful death!” Aaron is fuming now as he starts pacing the floor.

“I have to. You didn’t see what I saw. If you would just let me explain.” I am trying to explain, but it isn’t going very well.

“No! And what the hell where you doing going out there anyway? Are you trying to get killed this time?” Aaron growls looking at me glaring.

“That’s not fair.” I glare back at him. “I don’t need your permission to go outside. Now, stop growling at me!”

Aaron huffs and throws his hands in the air and continues to pace the floor. I look at Oriel and Grandma trying to figure out what to do now. They just look at me sympathetically. Grandma is the one to break the silence.

“What did you see Kay? I need to know what you saw and what you were told, please.’“

I sit in a chair at the table. Grandma and Oriel sit as well.

“Well, I started to feel really strange after training with Oriel. I felt like all my energy was building, and I was afraid that I would hurt you or Oriel, so I took off running.” Aaron growled at that, but he just kept pacing.

“Diana and I ran for a while. It helped to burn off that energy. It was really strange, and I don’t know what it was. I was about to head back when I felt the same warm pull like when my mom wanted to talk to me. I thought that it was her, but it was Seth. Only he was different. He was about twenty. He was begging me to help him. Hadeon was trying to pull him away from me, but Diana was glowing blue and fought Hadeon somehow. We were at Seth’s pack house, the one he was holding me in. It was different too, like a memory. Diana did something to Hadeon. He shrieked and took off. Seth cried and begged me to help him. He said he didn’t know what Hadeon was or what Hadeon would make him into. I think I was talking to Seth’s soul. I know helping him won’t change what he has done. I think I should help him anyway. I think it is what I have to do. Seth said to go to the castle in the clouds, and that you would know where that is,” I finish looking at Grandma.

Aaron stops pacing but is still scowling. His large arms are crossed in front of his chest. Grandma looks at the table, and for the first time that I can remember, she actually has a tear slip from her eye. It hits the table. I stand up and go to her hugging her.

“It’s all right dear. I just never thought he would go there, and that I would have to go back to that place.”

“Where is this castle?” Aaron asks sounding less angry, and I look at him as his face softens slightly.

“It’s a place that isn’t anywhere. It is here and there in the void. That means that only Kay and I can go there. I can tell you where the physical place is, but Kay and I will have to go to the other side to replace him.” Grandma looks up as a few more tears slip from her eyes, and she brushes them away quickly.

“No way am I letting Kay go there,” Aaron growls out as the little bit of calm he did have is completely gone. I can see him struggling to hold Griffin back, and I get to my feet. Both Oriel and Grandma look nervous. I’m not afraid of Aaron or Griffin. I know they won’t hurt anyone here, but I hate that Aaron is so upset by this. I know why he is. I know he’s just feeling afraid for me. Anything could happen. For some reason, I don’t feel afraid or nervous. I just know this is what has to happen. I can’t explain it, but even Diana feels the way I do: that we have to do this.

Aaron resumes his pacing with his hands in his hair. I step in front of him. His eyes lock onto mine, and I watch them swirl dark honey and amber as he and Griffin struggle for dominance. He looks so afraid, and that kills me more than anything. He’s almost frozen staring at me, and I wrap my arms around his waist. I hold him as tightly as I can.

“I know you are afraid to lose me, but please believe in me.” I murmur into his chest. Soon, I feel his body relax just slightly as his arm wrap around me holding me even tighter to him. He buries his face in my neck and hair trying to hold me as closely to him as he can.

“I can’t lose you too. I can’t do it. I can’t feel that pain. I just.” He whispers in my ear kissing my neck.

“I know, but I have to do this, or this will never end. You know that too. We have to stop Hadeon. I can’t lose you. I can’t lose anyone, and Hadeon will destroy everything. I can do this. I can stop him, just please believe in me?” I squeeze Aaron closer knowing what I stand to lose.

After another moment, Aaron pulls back to look at my face.

“I do believe in you,” he says before kissing me softly. In that moment, I wish we could just stay like this. I wish I didn’t have to do anything except be his and he mine. When Aaron pulls away, he looks over my head at Grandma behind me.

“You better have one hell of a plan.” I don’t mean to giggle at him, but I do as I pull out of his arms.

“We do need a plan Grandma. How will you be going with me?”

Grandma gets up and goes to a stack of old books pulling a very large one out of the stack. She puts it on the table and starts flipping through it. We all move in closer to her and the large musty book. She flips the pages and stops on a map that takes up both pages of the book.

The map is old, but it’s clearly the mountain range to the west.

“We go there,” she simply states pointing to a spot at the top north corner.

“We will have a time getting up there,” Oriel chimes in studying the old map.

“I know that mountain range, and I don’t recall there ever being a castle there,” Oriel continues as we all look at Granma.

“I promise you it’s there,” Grandma replies never looking up.

“We need to compare with some newer maps and come up with a plan. If that is where Seth and Hadeon are, then that is where his rogue army is too.” Oriel is calculating and calm. It’s a side of her I have rarely seen, and it’s almost like she has two different personalities. All the fun and mischief in her eyes is gone. It is replaced with all the calm and calculating seriousness of the warrior she is.

When she looks up, she shoots me a wink.

“I think I will gather up some other warriors. We need to work out a plan of attack,” she says looking at Aaron. Something silent passes between them, and she leaves the room.

“I need to go and speak with Eric and the other Alphas. We need to get moving before we lose the chance,” Aaron says looking me in the eyes, and I can see he’s trying to push past his feeling and do what he has to do. I kiss him before I even think about it. I just want him to know what he means to me. I hope that he knows.

When Aaron pulls away and leaves the room, I can’t help but feel sad for a moment. I know he’s still struggling with his feelings on this. After he’s gone, I look at Grandma, and she seems lost in thought.

“Grandma, are you okay?” I ask. I have never seen her like this before: she is clearly bothered by this.

“I will be fine once this is over. I never thought I would have to go back to that place, but it makes sense. It’s where it all happened.”

“What happened Grandma?”

“That’s where we loved each other, and where he betrayed me. He took everything from me. He took my power and killed our daughter with it. I believed in him, and he used it against me taking everything I loved from me. Now, I have to go there and remember what I lost.”

I get up from my chair and just hug her. I never knew what pain she had buried deep inside her. I never knew anything from her past. I only knew her to be the sweet old woman that looks after me. Now, I know she is so much more than I ever thought. She loved and lost so much.

We sit in silence for a long time, and I feel a few silent tears land on my arm.

“You know you remind me of her,” Grandma whispers. “I think he used her magic to create you. That was her gift: to heal and create. I think you carry part of her in you.” Grandma looks at me

“We will beat him this time for you and my Serena. This needs to end.”