Emergence, page 1
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
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The story Continues
One
More in the Series
COMING SOON
Acknowledgments
Also by Adrienne Woods
About the Author
Emergence: Beaumond Academy Book 4
Copyright © 2024 Adrienne Woods
Cover Designer: EB CREATIONS
If you purchased this book from anyone other than Fire Quill Publishing or a licensed FQP reseller, you should be aware this e-book is stolen property.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Fire Quill publishing edition January, 2024
All rights reserved.
One
GABRIEL
Ed asked, “How?”
“She’s not a hybrid, Ed. They hid her all this time as one. She was right here that time when Annedale threw her tantrum; the king saw her and had no idea. Just like Helga had said he would.”
“Max is Annedale?” Viola asked with tears in her eyes.
“Oh, Mom.” Ed stepped toward his mother and hugged her. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I saw her, Ed. Spent the entire Christmas with her. I should’ve known.”
“Don’t do this. You didn’t know. Nobody would’ve known.”
Max’s cherub still waved at me. I waved back, shaking my head. What did any of this mean? Max was a pure-blood, royalty. She couldn’t share the Ahmdahney with me.
“Gabriel,” King Montreal said, entering the foyer. “Durel said that you and Ed came to visit.” He looked at Viola and Ed. “Is everything okay?”
We all bowed, and he motioned with his hand to stop.
I reached out my hand to his, and he shook it. “I found her.”
The king froze. He looked up at the ceiling searching for Annedale and left my side. The smile on his face said it all. He thought I was referring to the painting.
“Not the cherub, my king. Your daughter.”
His gaze shifted from the ceiling to me. Staring. Tears welled up in his eyes.
“Or I think I did.”
He was lost for words so I stepped forward and pointed at the ceiling at Max’s cherub. “She is not hiding from you; she changed her appearance to match the person she is now.”
King Montreal’s gaze flickered to the cherubs again. He stared at what I was pointing at. “The cherub with the blonde hair.”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
He stared at Max’s cherub, and she waved at her father. The king waved back. “That is what she looks like now?”
“She was here that day when Annedale threw her tantrum. Apparently, they couldn’t figure out what she was trying to tell her. She was showing her who she was,” I explained.
“My daughter was in this castle?” His eyebrows furrowed.
“You said that Helga told you that you would never know who she was, even if she stood in front of you. They hid her as a hybrid. Half vampire, half witch. The magic on her doesn’t belong, but I thought it did because she grew up as half a witch.”
King Montreal had no idea what to say. “Why do you think it’s her?”
“For one, Annedale’s cherub, and the real one is busy changing. She is growing taller, and her hair is starting to turn darker.”
“What?” Viola asked.
“In the nape of her neck, blonde strands were raven. It hit me almost immediately when I saw it. I knew who she was.”
“Why is she changing?” Viola wanted to know.
“Later, Mom.” Ed rubbed her back.
“Viola, you know this girl?”
She nodded. “I spent Christmas with her, my king. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”
The king opened his arms, and Ed’s mom stepped into his embrace. Ed’s eyebrows knitted as the king’s tears rolled down his cheek.
Max had a family. One of power and royalty. She was no longer alone.
“Can you take me to her, please? The stone will tell me if it is her.”
I nodded and looked at Alexis. She wiped her own tears away and started twirling her hands.
“Durel,” King Montreal spoke, and a door opened. The SandMaster walked out with huge strides. My mind went back to that day we’d fought in that cage. He’d knocked me out, and her voice had woken me up, ordered me to keep going. I still wondered what that was all about.
Durel walked with huge strides toward us. The king nodded, and Durel smiled.
They stepped through the portal. Ed hugged his mother, and she came with us.
I stepped through last.
“Gabe,” Alexis whispered.
“Not now.”
She nodded. I knew what she was trying to say. How was the Ahmdahney possible between us?
We walked to the infirmary, and King Theo indicated Durel to stay put. He planted himself against the wall.
“King Montreal?” Jack questioned as he almost walked into us. He looked at me. “Gabriel, what is this?”
“I think we’ve found the princess, Jack.”
His gaze fell, and his eyes flickered from me to King Montreal. “Maxima Lane?”
“She is changing. Why else would she grow taller and change hair color. She is cloaked with a spell.”
Jack didn’t know what to say as Vincent appeared and bowed before the king.
“Follow me, Your Majesty.” Jack sounded as shocked as all of us.
“Gabe,” Ed whispered.
“Later,” I breathed back and followed them toward her cubicle.
Vincent said, “She is still asleep, my king, and I apologize for the entourage.”
“Entourage?”
“Maxima has many friends.”
Vincent pulled the curtain open.
“King Montreal,” Scar said as she came into my view.
She was the first to bow with Will right behind her.
“Please, stand up. You are her friends?” His gaze flickered to Max on the bed.
They all looked at each other, and Scar answered, “Yes, my king.”
He walked closer to her bed, and Scar came over to me. “What is going on?”
“I think Max is the lost princess.”
Her eyes grew. “What?”
“Annedale’s cherub turned into Max.”
She stared at me. “That was where you were?”
“Yes.”
Scar stared at Max. “It’s the reason she is changing.”
I nodded.
“That was what she tried to tell us that day.”
The king bent closer to Max, touched her face. She still looked like Maxima.
Viola bent down next to him and touched Max’s cheek. “She is so kind. A princess at heart. Bought me that beautiful flowery scarf.”
“That was her?”
Viola nodded.
He shook his head as his eyebrows knitted. “She doesn’t look anything like her.”
“She is changing though. Look.” Viola picked up a dark strand of hair and showed it to him.
He touched it, and the tears glistened in his eyes.
I could only imagine what he must be going through. It became even clearer who Max was. Why her magic never worked. Because she wasn’t a witch to begin with. It also explained why she’d fed so many times, just like a pure-blood as she was a pure-blood.
I turned away from her and walked to the front.
Ed followed me. “What now?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense,” I pointed out.
“Gabe, I told you the reason the Eye makes these decisions.”
“She is a pure-blood, Ed, and royalty at that.”
“That’s if Max is Annedale.”
“She is. I know it. All the signs are there. Deep down you know it too. They hid her as a hybrid.”
The king exited Max’s cubicle. Jack followed him, and they walked over to Ed and me.
“Can I please stay until she wakes up?” King Montreal requested.
Jack nodded. “I can only offer a room, Your Majesty. I’m afraid they are all the same.”
& nbsp; “I had one here for five long years, Jack.” King Montreal smiled.
“How could I forget?”
His gaze flickered to me. “She is changing. I saw it with her hair, and if it is her, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for finding her, Gabriel.”
I bowed, knowing if I went to open my mouth, my voice might falter.
Jack led King Montreal out of the infirmary, to a room. Now it was just waiting for Max to wake up.
MAX
I opened my eyes and found Scar sleeping in a chair. Amy’s head rested on her shoulder. My head ached. What the hell was this?
I felt weird, and my heart beat faster. I looked at my hands. They didn’t feel like mine.
Will was playing games on his phone and finally his gaze flickered up.
“Lane?”
“What happened? What is this?”
“Calm down. You are going to be okay.”
“I don’t feel okay. Where is Gabriel?” I remembered flying toward him and when I changed back, nothing.
“Calm down.”
“Max.” Scar woke up, got up from her chair, and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tight. Will left as I started to cry for no reason.
“What is going on with me?”
“Loads.” Tears pooled in Scar’s eyes. It didn’t make sense, as she was also smiling. “You grew six inches, and your hair is changing color.”
My eyebrows pulled together. “What?”
“I know how it sounds.” A chuckle escaped her lips. “They think that you are—”
The curtain opened, and Vincent entered. His eyes widened, and the smile on his lips fanned out across his face.
He closed the distance between us, and cold hands touched the glands below my jawline. “How do you feel?”
“Weird and wrong.”
He pressed my glands with the tips of his fingers. “You are changing.”
“I heard. Grew six inches. How is that possible?”
He took the stethoscope that hung around his neck and placed the ends in his ears and the round part against my back. “Deep breaths.”
I did what he ordered and filled my lungs with air. I held it in for a few seconds before blowing it out slowly.
The others had awoken and gotten up from their seats. Simon and Cade gave me weird looks as they left.
Principal Williams and another figure entered the room. When Vincent let me go, I looked up and gasped as I realized it was the vampire king. King Montreal.
I looked at Scar again. What was he doing here? Amy was gone too, and there was no sign of Will or Gabriel.
“Scar, can you please give us a minute?” Principal Williams inquired.
Momma Charles rushed to my side when Scar left my room.
“Max.” She hugged me and kissed me on my temple. Ed’s mom was so warm.
“Mamma Charles, what is going on?” I kept looking from her to the king. Realizing what Scar wanted to tell me. “No.”
“We think that they hid you as a hybrid,” she replied.
“No, not my father.” I shook my head as tears blurred my sight.
“Can I have a minute, Viola?” King Montreal asked, and she nodded as she stepped aside.
He came closer, stared at me intently, and sat down on the bed.
He had a very friendly face, was handsome too. Silver streaks hid among the black in his hair. He had a beard, and the mustache above his lip was trimmed to perfection. Red blotches danced in dull grey blue eyes.
His bushy grey eyebrows pulled together. He smelled expensive, like a dad or what I assumed a father of his status should smell like.
He wore a white button-down shirt underneath a fancy dark blue vest and looked casual but still smart.
His eyes didn’t leave mine, and the way he looked at me, searching for something, made me feel uncomfortable.
I kept seeing Annedale, tugging at the clothes that draped around her, barely covering her body. I knew what she’d tried to tell me now: I am you.
No, I shook my head and broke eye contact with the king. He touched my chin gently, and my gaze flickered up at him once more.
His lower-lip vibrated. I think a part of him just realized that I wasn’t his daughter.
He took off his necklace that carried some sort of a locket and opened it. He picked up my hand and tipped the locket over in my palm. A red stone fell into my hand. It hardly weighed anything, and the blue mixed with yellow was hypnotic. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
Momma Charles gasped, cupped her mouth, and left as tears rolled down the king’s cheeks.
My heart pounded faster.
He picked up the stone and put it back in the locket and this time into his pants pocket. “Do you know what that was?”
“The stone?”
He nodded.
I shook my head.
“It is part of a bigger one that travels around Beaumoore, trying to find you.” A tear lingered at his lower lid.
“No,” I said as a tear rolled down my cheek, knowing exactly what he was saying. I kept shaking my head. It couldn’t be. I wasn’t the missing princess. I was half a witch.
King Montreal hugged me tighter. His body shook as he sniffed.
I had no idea who this man was. Why would my father—sobs poured out of me, not knowing what was real and what wasn’t anymore.
I couldn’t be the missing princess.
Two
MAX
The next few days were kind of crazy. The media all asked whether Annedale Montreal had indeed come home.
Scar kept me up to date as Vincent made sure I was okay.
Apparently shifting with magical bracelets around your wrists wasn’t a great thing. Other witches and djinns exploded. Why didn’t I?
When Scar helped me out of the bed to take a shower, I was almost taller than her. Amy freaked out, I freaked out, the entire situation was so overwhelming. The worst part of it, there was still no sign of Gabriel.
I did not know where he was, and if he was stepping back because of my newfound status, then I didn’t want it. I would not lose him over this.
The curtain drew back, and King Montreal entered with a cardboard tray carrying four Styrofoam cups of coffees. He handed Scar and Amy one and put mine on the side table.
“You are so kind, my king, thank you,” Scar said.
“I told you before, Scarlet. You can call me Mr. Montreal. You are her friend; I assume you will not be strangers in Cinderriver.”
Scar’s gaze flickered to mine as she brought her cup of coffee to her lips.
“How do you feel, kiddo?” the king asked me.
“Fine, getting used to this.”
He smiled.
He was so warm and friendly, especially to my friends. Right now, we were waiting for Vincent to give me the verdict that I was out of the danger zone.
Which left me with eons of time, trying to process the lie of a life I’d grown up with.
My mind reeled with the father that had raised me. It meant that he’d stolen me from my real one. Why? It made little sense. It meant that Helga had stolen me. Everyone knew the story. Crap, she was still out there. They hadn’t found her or any of her sisters. What if she was going to come for me?
“Max!” Scar touched me, and my gaze snapped to her. “You okay?”
I shook my head and smiled. “I’m fine.”
“I’ll be outside,” King Montreal said, and he left as Vincent stood at the edge of my bed. I hadn’t even seen him enter.
Scar stayed as he checked my vitals once more. My bloodwork had come back too, and everything looked fine.
“You are out of the danger zone. All is good, Max.”
My lips tweaked, but only for a short period of time before faltering again. He smiled and exited my cubicle. I heard his voice speaking softly to King Montreal.
“What is taking Amy so long?” Scar sounded annoyed.
