“It’s a long story, but the easiest answer is that I found it in Mr. Marth’s belongings.”
Morea’s expression twisted at the mention of his name. “He killed Aleina. Captured and experimented on me.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” I said, hoping that she heard in my voice how much I meant it. “But you did the right thing just now, and I know Aleina is proud of you for it.”
Morea looked away. “She was right. Curse her, she was always right,” she muttered before returning her gaze to me. “I have shamed her even in death.”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to absolve Morea of the things she’d done, but I also didn’t want to ignore the awful things Leland had done to her and her sister that caused all of this. If he’d just listened to Mayor Nash and left well enough alone, then he, Zadie, and Aleina would all still be alive. “It’s never too late to make things right,” I said.
“That is impossible after what I have done,” Morea said. “I can never restore balance.”
“How can you know that if you don’t try?”
Morea stared at me quizzically. “You are fascinating. But perhaps you are right.”
“You owe that much to Aleina.”
“Yes…” Morea said and stared down at the tooth clutched in her hand.
I glanced from her to Kade and back again, struggling to find the courage to ask her what I wanted. “Morea, were you going to hurt Kade?” I asked gingerly.
The oread glanced at Kade and bared her fangs. “I wanted to, yes, for what he did to me and my sister.”
Kade stepped forward with a pleading look on his face. “Morea, I’m sorry. Really, you have no idea how much I didn’t want to do any of that, but I didn’t have a choice, I—”
“You invaded our land, did you not?” Morea interrupted him, and Kade’s face flushed. “You did not have to do that, but you chose to anyway. You could have tried to save my sister, but you took photos of her dying instead.”
“None of that matters now,” I said, trying to get the situation back under control. “Kade can’t go back and change his choices any more than you can go back to change yours, Morea. There’s plenty of blame to go around here, but now isn’t the time for that. We can’t keep antagonizing each other like this; we have to coexist. That’s the only way forward.”
“What if we cannot?” Morea asked, and I didn’t have an answer, mostly because I refused to believe that we couldn’t. If all kinds of paranormal species could live together peacefully in Starfall Valley, from vampires to witches and everything in between, why couldn’t we make space for the oreads, too?
“We can, and we will,” I insisted. “It might not happen overnight, but we’ll find a way.”
Morea stared at me as she turned my words over in her head and eventually cracked an unsettling smile. “You remind me of Aleina, human. She was also idealistic about our species living side by side.”
“Then don’t you think it’s time we at least gave it a chance? Everything changes, right? This entire town and the surrounding environment hasn’t stayed the same throughout its existence, and things are still changing. Clearly, the old system failed us and Aleina, but we can build a better one, one that works for all of us.”
“All we oreads have ever required is the Nature that birthed us all; that is why we spend our lives guarding it ferociously, because if Nature dies, so do we all.”
“Then how can we help you do that?”
Morea chuckled. “I admire your enthusiasm, but you are misguided. Unless you can stop the seemingly endless expansion of this town and Starforce Technology’s ever-growing use of Nature’s resources, there is nothing you can do to help.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” I said. “As terrible as Mr. Marth’s death is, and as unforgivable as your role was in it, this has given us an opportunity to change things. Now that Starforce Tech doesn’t have a leader, we can find a replacement who understands how important it is to conserve and protect this beautiful town, and we can hold them more accountable. Believe me, I don’t want to lose Starfall Valley any more than anyone else here does. This is my home now, just as much as it is yours.”
Thorn squeezed my shoulder affectionately, and I paused to take a look around at all my family, friends, and colleagues. I’d only been in Starfall Valley for a few months, but I already felt more at home there than I’d ever felt anywhere else. To think that, if I hadn’t managed to get through to Morea when I did, I could’ve lost it all…. It tore me up, but it also encouraged me to do everything I could to protect it — all of it.
Morea stared me in the eyes. “Yes. As Aleina said, humans are also of Nature. We must share her; we have no other choice.”
“Exactly! And that’s much easier to do when we’re working with instead of against each other,” I said, and Morea nodded slowly as if she were really coming around to what I was saying. “We all have a role to play here. I can’t do everything alone, and neither can you and the rest of the oreads. We have to share the load. We all have to maintain the balance.”
Morea’s smile returned. “Aleina would have loved you, human. In her honor, I will try.”
“That’s all any of us can do,” I said, and turned to Flora, who stood watching and listening to the entire conversation. “What’s going to happen to her now?”
Flora grimaced. “That’s up to the local law enforcement. I obviously have to report all this to them, and I doubt they’ll turn a blind eye for punishment for the murders of two citizens, especially when the Marth family gets wind of what happened
