Chapter 43: Chapter 43

This time I woke up on the softest bed ever and I saw Hiro looking at me with wide eyes like she had just witnessed a miracle. I was pretty sure in her mind, my being alive was actually a miracle and as much as I was happy that I was alive, I was more concerned with the fact that she was the only one with me.

It had to mean either of two things. One being that Havana had actually succeeded and the other being that she was so distraught they succeeded in killing her instead. I didn’t know which I was going for but I knew neither of them sounded reassuring.

“Where is Havana?” I asked her before she could start fawning over how much of a miracle it was and all that.

I was simply more interested in finding my sister before they killed her or she killed them. That was if it hadn’t already happened.

“You just woke up. You shouldn’t be worried about her,” Hiro replied sheepishly and I glared at her.

“She’s my sister. She needs me.” She looked away so I had to grab her by the collar of her shirt and force her to look into my eyes. “Where. The. Hell. Is. Havana?”

Hiro looked terrified because she had probably never seen me like this but I wasn’t bothered. All I wanted was a reply from her.

She pried my hands off her collar and said, “I’ll take you there.” “Well, hurry. It’s not like we have all day,” I said shooting her a glare.

“Okay, okay,” she said standing up then she gave me her hand to help me up but I refused it and stood up on my own. “We aren’t too far from where they took her so it won’t take us long to get there.”

I nodded and she walked ahead of me leading me out of the room I was in. We got out and I saw that we were actually in the castle and if I was correct, it was actually Leon’s room. I hadn’t gone inside the first time I’d been there but it looked exactly like the part of the castle I’d been in.

We walked past doors and doors that I could have sworn there were about hundred doors, or more, in the castle and I was relieved when it seemed we were getting closer as we neared the final door that led to some kind of passageway. Two turns and we were out of the castle or at least, it looked like that was where we were.

Havana was tied up to wood and a fireplace was set below her, and for some reason it looked like she wasn’t resisting arrest or whatever that was. I could have sworn that it looked like something taken out of the Assassins Creed movie. A lot of people were gathered round her and I couldn’t help but run ahead of Hiro to stop them before they did anything to hurt her.

“Si vis amari, ama,” I heard in my head.

I didn’t know how I knew what it meant but I did. It meant, “If you wish to be loved, love.” How that was connected to what was going on, I had no idea but someone felt it necessary to tell me so I had to appreciate it.

Somebody was about to throw something at Havana so I ran in front of her and glared at them. “If you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you. I swear I will kill you all.”

“Paris? You’re alive?” Havana’s voice came behind me and the surprise was evident in her tone. “H-How is that even possible?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, waving her off then searched for Evander before walking up to him. “You can stop this. All you have to do is apologize to him and everything will be fine.”

Evander raised a brow at first then looked at me with something indecipherable in his eyes. “I have nothing to be sorry for.”

“You killed me!” Havana roared and I turned to see that her eyes were flashing a bloody red filled with fury. “You fucking killed me and you say you have nothing to be sorry for?

How the hell was I your friend?”

It didn’t take long for me to realize that it was no longer Havana speaking. “What is going on?” Leon asked with wide eyes.

Evander ignored him and glared at Havana. “Whatever happened wasn’t my fault. It was all yours. If you hadn’t been so proud then maybe you would still be alive.”

Havana broke free on their bondage, her eyes set on Evander as though she was a predator and he was the prey. I began to tap Evander’s shoulder nervously. “I think you should just apologize so we can all have a happy ending.”

“When are you going to realize that I don’t care?” he asked, looking away from Havana momentarily to glare at me.

I crossed my arms. “You do care. I see it in your eyes so why are you saying otherwise?”

He was about to reply but we were cut off by Havana’s loud roar that was followed by her transformation into the Opinicus creature and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Her figure that was way too similar to mine was replaced with a beast that looked like the child of a dragon and a griffin.

It had the head of a dragon with the beak of an eagle and teeth that were way to sharp to belong in the mouth of an ordinary eagle. The colors of the creature were beautiful to say the least as it looked like something out of a red and gold marriage.

The body was that of lion and its wings were like an eagle’s but really large, with spikes on them, and claws on each side of its wings. It had lion hind-end and a combination of an eagle and a lion’s forelegs. There was a slight hump in its back and the tail of a…camel? The tips of its tail were a glowing red.

Havana kept breathing fire ruthlessly and everyone was running for cover except the family of Evander who were just watching the scene like it was from a movie. That was, of course, until the fire was headed in Leon’s direction. Evander was quick to notice it and in the blink

of an eye, rushed to cover him, replacing his figure with the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.

It was the most beautiful mixture of white and gold I’d ever seen but what struck me was the odd way it looked. Instead of having feathers and fur like a regular griffin, it had leaves that were the gold on its skin. As Evander transformed, snow began to fall off the white parts of him like it was snow itself.

It became a war between fire and ice, and I would have found it funny if people weren’t suffering from the effects of their fervent attacks.

“Paris, it would be a good time to do something,” the bird’s voice came in my head and I grunted.

Of course, it would be a good thing to do something if I had a single idea what to do. I glanced around thinking of my options but there was very little I could work with until it dawned on me that even though Keahilani had possessed her, Havana was still my sister. I just had to find her.

I ran in front of Evander just as Keahilani/Havana was about to deal the final strike that could have killed him. With all the injuries he had, it was a miracle he was still alive.

“Get out of my way, little girl! I do not wish to hurt you,” Havana said and I could sense she was still not in full control of herself.

“Is there no way, you guys can just settle this without fighting? Forgive him maybe since it has been years already?” I suggested with a sheepish smile.

“There is no room for forgiveness in my heart. My heart is too dark. As dark as forest at night. As dark as tree bark camouflaged in dense wood.”

I nodded slowly. “I do not understand your analogy but I think I get the point you’re trying to make.” I turned to Evander. “Can you just apologize and get this over with?”

“I will never apologize to you, Keahilani. You killed my wife and I will forever hate you for that!” Came Evander’s reply, and I placed a hand on my forehead wondering what was really up between both of them. “Kill me now because you will never get to hear me apologize.”

“You took my life from me and I took your most precious gift to cause you eternal pain and now that you have found joy again, I am here to take it from you.”

I looked at Evander and saw him struggling to stand up with his badly injured leg then I looked at Keahilani who was ready to strike again and really kill Evander. With a sigh, I asked, “Evander, why did you kill your friend?”

“I never killed him and he knows that. The reason why I did all of this was to resurrect him because I blamed myself for his death but I would never willingly kill him.”

“You did. You thought I wouldn’t find out about your greed and your quest for vengeance from Alexei?”

Evander transformed back to a human and began to gasp for air, sitting on the floor with wide open legs. “I did not kill you, Keahilani, neither did I send Alexei to kill you. He wanted to

do that for himself and asked me for your weakness. I wasn’t going to tell him until he cast a spell on me that revealed all there was to know. That was why I blamed myself for your death. I thought if I didn’t know it, you would still be alive.”

By now, everyone was watching just like I was, trying to find out the truth behind everything. That must have been what the bird meant by two sides to a story.

With Evander’s words, Keahilani transformed back to Havana’s true form but still with the red eyes. “You d-didn’t?”

Evander looked up at him. “You were my brother. Why would I?”

“I have been a fool carrying hatred in my heart and…I-I killed your wife.” Keahilani fell to his knees immediately. “I am so sorry, Evan. I should have trusted you more than this and…”

“It’s okay. Alexei had always been a master of deception,” Evander said with a sad smile and from the look in his eyes, I could tell that he could never forgive his friend for the death of his wife.

“Where is he?”

“I killed him after I heard of your death and I do not regret it,” Evander said and I could slowly see the healing process taking place in him. “Now that you know the truth, will you return or will you stay?”

“I don’t mean to interrupt your slightly disturbing reunion but there is no way he is staying in my sister’s body forever,” I said, crossing my arms and glaring at both of them.

“She is right,” Keahilani said and looked up. “The only problem is that if I leave, she goes with me. There is no Havana without me.”

Evander and I exchanged looks agreeing on the one fact that there was no way that was a good thing. “Well, since Havana was living a normal life before you Evander woke you up, is there no way you can go back to sleep or something?”

Keahilani made to reply but Evander beat him to it. “He used most of his life force to transform and for someone as powerful as he is, it’s not something he won’t get over in a couple of minutes. For Havana, it’s equivalent to death. The only thing keeping her alive now is Keahilani’s life force. Without it, she’s as good as dead and nothing can save her.”

“What is our option then?” I asked with a frown obviously not liking the idea of a man living in my sister’s body.

“We can make our souls one,” Keahilani replied. I raised a brow. “Meaning?”

“She becomes a feminine version of me,” he said and I frowned. “I can go away from all your lives as I’ve already caused enough damage. There is no place I can be accepted now. Not like this.”

“No!” I shouted and he raised a brow. “You can rise up from anything. You can completely recreate yourself. Nothing is permanent. You’re not stuck. You have choices. You can think

new thoughts. You can learn something new. You can create new habits. All that matters is that you decide to be a better person today and that you never look back.”

“You really think so?” he asked and I nodded. “You love your sister, right?”

“Family is all there is to me,” I replied with a soft smile and to make sure he wasn’t feeling bad, I added, “We can learn to live with you though. One day at a time.”

Keahilani closed his eyes and when he did, there was this feeling in the air that I couldn’t quite place. It felt like someone was saying goodbye. When the eyes opened, they were no longer red but blue. The same color I shared with Havana.

“H-Havana? Is that you?” I asked with wide eyes and she nodded. “What happened?”

Evander stood up and walked until he was beside me the said, “He gave his life for hers. He transferred his life force to her leaving him with nothing. Keahilani is gone forever.”

I looked at Havana then back at Evander. “Why would he do that? I’m happy but…”

“One day you’ll understand the importance of sacrifices but I’ll put it in plain terms. He saw something stronger than his will to live.” Evander walked up to Havana and smiled at her. “I’m sorry you had to be drawn into this mess.”

Havana burst into laughter. “Are you kidding me? This is the most exciting thing in my life and apparently, my sister was meant to be just a twin without this. Your issue is the reason I was brought into this world, into the best family ever. I should thank you.”

“Yes, but my methods were wrong and I am just as bad as everyone else. I apologize for putting you through all that,” Evander said, bowing his head slightly. “As for Paris, I am sorry for being a jerk to you. I hope you can forgive me and give me a chance to get to know someone as wonderful as you are.”

I glanced around at all the people staring at us like they had just witnessed the greatest movie of all time, which it probably was, then squeezed Evander’s shoulder. “I’d love that but I’d like to see you explain your way out of this one.”