Chapter 18 - Chloe

I walked to the door, leaving them all behind. As I opened the door there was three people outside, they looked like they were about to knock. “Hello” I said to them. The older man nodded. “Chloe, we were just here for you.” Great. The grandfather I never knew I had was here for me. “uh, well I’m on my way out.” I really didn’t have interest in talking to them right now.
“I see that.” he said looking at me. as I looked at him, I noticed how truly old he was, his eyes were blood shot and puffy, indicating that he had been crying lately. Over my birth mom I am sure. Maybe I should give him a chance, he is the last true family I have left. I sighed. “How about dinner? I have something to do.” That seemed to make him smile. “Ah, yes, you wish to go save your friend Taylor.” I stared at him shocked, how did he know.

“Your grandmother here can see the future, she foreseen you storming the vampires castle. You learn that your friend is a werewolf under their protection. The vampire Kathrine will have you locked up due to jealousy.” I stared at him, could I trust them? I don’t really know them.
“Instead, we would like to take you to your mothers palace – your palace. She would have wanted you to have it. No one has been there since that night. We had it sealed away” he looked over to his wife. “but we decided that it is time, and we wish to do it with you.” He looked back at me, hope in his eyes.
I didn’t know what to say, I felt a lump form in my throat. I would like to know her but didn’t know if I was ready. A few days ago, I didn’t even know I was adopted. But it would be a good chance to learn about her, possibly even find a way to defeat the Dragon queen. I knew if I spoke id lose my voice and the tears I was fighting back, so all I did was nod my head. Judd smiled at me and held up his hand, “please ride with us” I accepted his hand and followed them to the car. Please don’t be a bad idea. I thought to myself.
We all got into the black limo; I could tell that my grandparents had money. All three of them just stared at me in silence. It made me feel very uncomfortable. I stared at the other man with them. Which seemed fair since he was staring at me. he broke the silence, “you look just like my twin sister Ava” he said. I could see the pain in his eyes. It was clear that my mother meant a lot to them. I slightly nodded. What do you say to someone when they tell you that you look like your dead mother?
Judd let out a deep sigh, “she was life itself. She was a beacon of light and love. Everything she did was great. She cared about everyone and everything.” I smiled deeply as they went on about how great she was and telling me stories about her. She sounded amazing; I wish I could have met her.
We finally reached a very large black iron gate, we all stared out of the car at it. you can tell it was aged and the stone looked old and dingy. Vines and weeds were overgrown everywhere. Judd stepped out of the car and walked to the gate. He pulled up some of the vines wrapped around the opening. He then walked to the left and pushed some numbers into a keypad. The iron gate hesitated, then screeched to life as it slowly opened.
I felt a pit in my stomach as Judd got back into the limousine and we started towards the palace. As we passed the iron gates a bunch of houses came into view, a corner store and tavern were also in view. “a village?” I asked. It was abandoned now, but you can tell at one time it was gorgeous. “as high priestess, other witches always wanted to be close to her. We see out high priestess as our queens, they are our leaders.” Dakota said to me. is that how they seen me, as a Queen? “When Ava passed away, we forced everyone out and sealed it up where no one could return without knowing the phrase to get in.” Judd said staring out at the village.
“you made all of these poor people leave their homes?” I felt sick, how cruel. “we did dear. Ava built this place, and I refused to allow someone else to come in and take over. But since you are her daughter, it is your place to rule” Elenore said to me. up until now she had been pretty quiet. I found it shocking when I heard her voice.
We slowly continued to the palace, as it came into view it took my breath, it was absolutely huge and stunning. It has white and blue; you could tell it once stood proudly but now time and neglect had taken a toll on it. It hurt my heart to see it like this. Based on the stories, I was born here. I would have grown up here with my mother if fate would have been kinder to us.
The driver stopped the car in front of the entrance. It had beautiful stone steps. We stared at it for a moment before stepping out of the car. We all slowly walked up the steps. Do we knock? Or do we just go on it? I felt nervous, I wasn’t sure what to do at this point. Judd looked at me, “This is now your palace, your kingdom, I believe you should be the first one to step in.” he handed me a key chain. I looked down at the keychain, it had a few keys, but what stood out was a pink metal heart with “Ava” engraved into it. I looked up at him.
I couldn’t hold it anymore, the tears started flowing from my eyes. It seemed like he couldn’t hold it anymore cause Judd quickly hugged me and I felt his hot tears falling down on the top of my head. “I am so sorry, Chloe, we had no idea you were alive and out there. I failed at protecting my daughter, but I swear I will keep you safe.” We continued to cry. My heart ached for my mother, even if I have never met her.
After a while we both stopped crying and I pulled myself away from him. It was time to face this… I felt my body shake I walked up to the double doors. They were beautifully carved. I unlocked the door and pushed it open. Natural light shown threw the windows, you could see the thick dust covering everything. I stepped through the doors, my family following close behind me.
We looked around, besides the dust it looked very clean. Everything was decorated and organized. Dakota conjured up five dusters, “Get to work.” he said then blew into them. They started to shake to life, then zipped off and started dusting everything down. I looked at them in shock. I mean it was cool, but I have never seen it before.
We walked into the next room, we stood there in horror, the room was a wreck. It was the room my mother died in. And on the wall “I’m coming for you” was recently painted on the wall, and on the ground was my dead cat that was supposed to be back home with my parents. I quickly scooped him off the ground and started crying.