Chapter 33

Capricorn couldn't explain his feelings when he saw his sister again. It was the last turn of events that he had planned for. Not because he had forgotten her. Or because he hadn't cared. He couldn't really say why he hadn't planned to seek her out except to say that it was because he had never associated her with the Inkworld. With a place that brought him so much pain. That he loathed. Because he had never felt that way about Gemini. She was his sister and the only one who understood how he felt about the place. It wasn't that he hadn't loved her or that he didn't love her or even think of her, it was that he didn't worry about her.

"We're one in the same, skin to skin" thought Capricorn remembering the phrase from when they were children. Back then, it had been up to them to survive the woods of the Inkworld. The two of them against their mother, the men she used for her own gain. They had dreamed of beating her someday. Of showing her who was really in control and now, as Capricorn looked at his sister now, he realized, they had. Each in their own way, they had.

Capricorn had become all powerful, a king, someone his mother fell to her knees for. Gemini though, she had beaten Mortola at her own game. Like their mother, Gemini was also a powerful sorceress. Except she had grown too far outpace her. Gemini had survived as Mortolas apprentice and then moved on to learn from mages far better than their mother. She was better at every magical teaching and when the time came to challenge Mortola, she did. Capricorn remembered the day when they matched wits and he remembered the pride he felt in his sister when she won. He felt that pride again when he looked at her now.

"Magic has much blessed you, sister" whispered Capricorn in that moment, receiving no response from her as she stood as if to allow him to admire her, a true sorceress, sought after, and praised. It was then that Capricorn realized his folly. All this time, he had been searching for a replacement for his mother, and now, she stood before him. His sister, she was the perfect replacement, and at the thought, Capricorn felt something inside him lighten.

It was as he came to this realization that the two unconsciously began to move toward each other. They didn't say anything, not even when they were toe to toe. Gemini was the first to smile and as Capricorn took her hands, he did too. He had never felt this emotional with someone who wasn't Meggie. When they shared an embrace, it was then that he realized how much he had missed her, and when she shared in it, he knew she felt the same.

"Where have you been, brother? Everyone seemed to disappear" whispered Gemini, taking his arm to walk by his side sensing that she was in for quite the tale when she saw the shine in his eyes.

"Seeking my fortune…and I found it, sister. In more ways then I ever expected" said Capricorn, his voice soft in a way that surprised her. She had seen the calmest part of her brother, but this part seemed to be new. It was softer, not weak, but a type of consideration that she didn't know how to take as she walked by his side. It made her wonder if he was still the brother she had known, or another man returned.

"I'm happy to hear it, Capricorn, but how? Where have you been? I wasn't worried exactly, but I have always wondered what became of you" exclaimed Gemini, her eyes searching him as they walked, seeing him smile as he looked right back, his frame at ease in a way that she both knew and didn't. Capricorn recognized that frame of mind as he felt it. It was the type of ease that he had only felt with Meggie up until now. The truth was Capricorn enjoyed having his sister back. He felt confident when he was with her. After all, she was his sister, blood of his blood, and other then Meggie, Capricorn couldn't remember ever loving anyone else. Maybe that was why he was bursting with pride just at the sight of her.

Gemini had never been beautiful, but never plain. She held herself in a way that only a queen or someone with royal blood running through her veins did. And yet, as he looked at her, she didn't look completely the same. It wasn't that she was older exactly, but wiser. She seemed to hold the wisdom of their mother without the magpie face. That was why Capricorn knew, he needed her, especially if he ever hoped to be rid of his mother. Capricorn stopped then and he just looked at her.

"I've missed your green eyes, sister" whispered Capricorn, feeling something inside choke him as he looked at the turquoise as they reflected in his own coal black eyes.

"I've missed you, Gemini" whispered Capricorn next, looked at her in all her colorful glory a vast contrast to him and his black, her raven hair braided and running like long strands of soot down her back. She rarely ever wore black unlike he and his mother. Gemini was always wearing blue or purple or even green. She wore a vivid blue dress now, highlighted in shades of green turquoise, and shoes the same color. It all made him smile because she had always been this way. Colorful and wise and brilliant beyond compare. The chances of seeing her again had been so small, but now, she stood next to him. Both all grown up and both far surpassing the dreams their mother had given them. They were not just all powerful, they were all knowing. They were the next deities of this world or at least that was how he saw it as he looked down at her and she looked back. Capricorn would topple the Adderhead and be a god with his women by his side. To stand beside him as his goddesses. With Meggie as his queen and his sister, Gemini, as his high priestess. They would be indestructible, at least, that's how he saw it. He could picture it as he stood there with her and he hoped in time that she would too.

"You and I, we'll take this world now, sister, and show them who it is they need to truly fear" whispered Capricorn, seeing by the sparkle in her eyes that she understood as he felt an emotion he had long suppressed emerging from inside him.

"Yes, Capricorn, I think we will, but first, you must tell me of your achievements while away" said Gemini then her gaze stern yet still loving as she smiled almost seeming to know everything already. Capricorn faced her then, a look of wonder in his eyes, as he clasped her hands.

"You wouldn't believe some of the things I have to tell you, sister. Magical things…not just like you possess, but a different type of magic. Something almost sacred. Something almost pure" exclaimed Capricorn, the excitement in his voice as he looked her straight in the eye.

"Capricorn tell me. What is this magic you speak of?" whispered Gemini, anxious to know of the sacred power of which he spoke, part of her wondering if it was just a bit of humor on his part as she spoke.

"We are in a book, Gemini, the Inkworld is a place within a book. When I disappeared, it was because I was read from the book" exclaimed Capricorn, seeing a moment of disbelief before that disappeared.

"You are not humoring me, Capricorn, and I know you would not lie. Continue" whispered Gemini, and Capricorn knew she was instilling all her trust in him.

"I found myself in another place, Gemini, and it was not like our world. It needed a king, so I made myself one. Now, I've come back to see the Adderhead fall, and to take my rightful place as king of this world" exclaimed Capricorn, he saw the wonder in her eyes immediately. He could see she wanted more, so he continued.

"Come with me, sister, not just back to camp, but on this adventure. You won't be sorry. I'll prove everything and my power shall be yours as well" said Capricorn, his voice asking with a longing that made her giddy for reasons she didn't know. It reminded her of when they were children. When Capricorn and she would steal away in search of trouble that to them was an adventure. Gemini suspected this would be their greatest adventure yet as she looked up at him.

"There was a time I'd follow you anywhere, brother. That has not changed" whispered Gemini, walking beside him at a quicker pace now. They shared a smile then and it was then that their adventure truly began. As they approached his horse, neither knew what was coming next, but they knew it would be a road that would lead them to the place they had always sought. A place of power and wisdom in a world that always saw them as weak underlings that needed to be told. Gemini was like her brother, she was ready for that to be over, and for the power to be hers. Capricorn climbed atop his horse and reached down, pulling her up, only for her to shake her head in a no.

"You know me, brother, I prefer to fly" said Gemini, moving on silent feet until she was that peacock flying overhead again. When Capricorn returned to his men, they were setting up his new camp, but he gathered them around.

"We have a new member of our group, boys. Some of you may remember her, but for those of you who don't. I'd like to introduce my sister, Gemini" said Capricorn, not looking at any of his men. Instead, he was looking at Mortola, the look on her face seeming to still. She wasn't expecting to see her daughter again. Though Capricorn suspected it was not because she had been proud of her daughter, but unlike him, she had forgotten. Gemini had been her vain since she had beaten her so savagely.

She had kept her back to him until now, but at her daughter's name, she turned. Just as she did, Gemini appeared, first a peacock then in a mist of color, she was an all powerful being standing before them. At the sight of her, Capricorn could only feel his confidence growing.