Persie Merlin and the Witch Hunters - Bella Forrest Page 0,27
Genie asked, her eyes wide as saucers.
I laughed bitterly. “No. If he’d ever been there, it had been a long time ago. But I did find this.” I raised my wrist to show her the bracelet. “It must’ve been put there to trick anyone who tried to trace him by his Grimoire, and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Anyway, I took the bracelet and tried to climb back down the volcanic cliff. Do you know much about volcanic rock?”
She shook her head. “Geology’s not my preferred bedtime reading.”
“Well, it’s notoriously unstable.” I smiled, remembering. “I lost my footing and fell for what seemed like a lifetime. My mum didn’t even know I’d gone on that wild goose chase and all I could think about was her, at home, never knowing what happened to her son. The island wasn’t inhabited, and I hadn’t told anyone what I was up to. I could’ve simply… disappeared.”
“Well, you look like you’re in one piece, so I’m guessing you survived. Unless you’re a really convincing ghost.” She was making her usual jokes, but they didn’t sound the way they normally did. It was as though she felt she had to be funny, to ease my discomfort in telling the story.
I chuckled. “I bounced off a few rocks and blacked out. I thought I was dead. When I woke up, I saw an enormous, snow-white bird nestled beside me, one wing covering me like a blanket. I think I asked her if she was an angel, and she just looked at me. It was the most withering look I’ve ever received.”
“I guess I can’t compete, huh?” She gave me a gentle nudge in the arm, and my chest clenched at the contact. Anyone who could have read my vital signs at that moment would have thought I was a weirdo who’d never been touched in his life. But this was Genie. She made the ordinary seem extraordinary, the mundane pure magic. “Go on,” she encouraged. “What was the bird?”
“A Caladrius. She must have caught me at some point after I fell and carried me back to her nest, where she healed me. I didn’t have a single scratch on me, though I had the memory of hitting some rocks so hard I shouldn’t have been breathing.” A dense lump of emotion blocked my throat. “She had no reason to save me. She risked being exposed by doing that. Caladrii are rare to begin with, but they were hunted and captured over the centuries, exploited for their healing properties. In helping me, she put her own life on the line.”
“Do you think she’s still there?” Genie moved slightly closer.
I shrugged. “I hope so. I got to live. My mum didn’t have to lose someone else. That was all because of the Caladrius.” I glanced down at the worn band of the bracelet. “That’s why I wear this, to remind myself of the Caladrius’s selfless act, and to remind myself that my father never wanted to be found.”
“Did you ever look again?”
I shook my head firmly. “No. Why waste energy on someone who doesn’t want you?” Genie’s mouth moved ever so slightly, as though saying something to herself. Was she saying that she wanted me? I didn’t dare hope for it. “Anyway, that’s where it started. The Caladrius took care of me until I was ready to leave, and she cawed as I went. A fond farewell. I knew, then, that they weren’t mindless creatures who hated humanity. I knew they weren’t just fuel for our world. I’d seen one, free, and it was incredible.”
“But they aren’t free. And they’re still fuel.” Genie scrunched up her nose, as though she was doubting everything she knew.
“Change takes a long time. I doubt the system will alter in my lifetime, but I am content to sow the seeds. And if I can’t spare them from capture, the least I can do is learn more about them, spread that knowledge, and ensure they are taken care of.” I grazed my hand across the crocottas’s orb, and they let out a soft whine of understanding.
There was another chapter of that Caladrius story, and I’d omitted a few details, but I kept it locked away in a box at the back of my mind. As much as I adored Genie, there were facets of my history that had to stay hidden. Silence had worked out for the best so far. All she needed to know was that I was trying