Chapter 12

The Gathering: Part 1

Talia's POV

I woke up very late for some reason and went to the elevators and pressed the floor where David said he would come get us when the baby was born. It opened and Owen was waiting. I tried to walk out, but he forced me back in. Pressing the floor he wanted, he stood still.

"What's the big idea, Owen?" I asked.

"You have to come with me." He said.

"But the-" I pointed.

"You must be kept safe." He said sternly.

Kept safe? The only thing I needed to be kept safe from was… The Gathering started. I followed Owen as he led to bunker like room. It had a bunch of screens showing different parts of the castle. There was a bag of things to keep me entertained.

"This room is has iron around it. Hopefully, it is enough to hide you from Lord Oberon and Lady Titania." He said.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Talia, you must not leave this room unless I come get you. Only me." He continued.

"How do you-" I was confused.

"Promise me, Talia." He glared. Glared.

"I promise." I flinched.

"That's a good girl." He stepped closer and I stepped back. "I won't hurt you. I just needed to know that you would stay."

"Promise?" I asked.

"I promise I won't hurt you." He stepped toward me again and I let him get close.

Bending down, he looked me in the eyes and smiled. He tucked my hair behind my ear and kissed my forehead. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe, kiddo."

I looked at him. He had a twinkle of fatherly pride in his eyes. "Puck?" I asked.

He smiled again. "I won't let you be punished for my crime, Talia. You deserve to live."

"You've been…" I trailed off.

"Yes. I have to go back to the others now. But I'll be back for you, little trickster." He brushed my hair again and kissed my forehead one last time. Then he left and closed the door.

Talia's POV End

Owen's POV

"Owen, where's Talia?" Mister Xanatos asked.

"Who's Talia?" Petros asked.

"Your granddaughter." I answered. "Talia is resting."

"Go get her. I want her to meet her baby brother." He ordered.

"Yes, sir." I said and went to get her.

Owen's POV End

Talia's POV

The door opened and it was Owen. "Mister Xanatos wishes for you to meet Alexander."

"Who's that? I asked.

"Your baby brother." He said.

"Oh." I followed him.

"Talia, you must not let Lady Anastasia touch you." He said.

"Ok, Dad." I said jokingly.

"Talia… do not call me that in public." He thought about it.

"Yes, sir." I smiled at him. The corner of his lip turned upward.

We got to the room and I saw three people around Fox and the baby. They turned and looked at me. I hid behind Owen. He pushed me out from behind him. "Talia, meet your grandparents."

"Hi." I waved shyly.

"She's a shy one, David." The man in the brown suit said.

"She's not normally." He frowned.

"She just woke up." Owen lied, pushing me forward.

"Hello, Sweetheart. I'm Petros, your father's father." He walked toward me.

"Hello, Grandpa Petros." I said, watching Owen go to David and whisper something to him.

"Grandpa is just fine." He smiled.

"Let me hold this angel boy. Oh, yes, my little one, you have so much to look forward to. Such marvelous potential." Lady Anastasia cooed.

"Ok." I said as both David and I noticed Owen was gone.

A black haired man and the old man in a chair approached me next. "Talia, is it?" The man in the chair asked.

"Yes." I said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm your mother's father, Halcyon Renard. And this is my aide-de-camp, Mr. Vogel." He waved to other man.

"Hello." Mr. Vogel said.

"Nice to meet you too, Grandpa Renard." I smiled a tiny bit.

"Mother, I know you're excited to meet your new grandson, but-" Fox started to say.

"Talia?" David asked as I tried to slip out.

"I'm hungry." I said.

"Owen must have forgotten to give you something in all the excitement. You can go to the kitchen after you meet your grandmother." David said.

"Hi, I'm Talia." I waved.

Lady Anastasia looked at me. "Call me Grandma."

"Ok…" I said.

"What unique eyes you have." She noted, standing up now and walking closer to me.

"I got them from my father." I said.

"Interesting." She hummed.

"Ok, Talia, you can go eat now, but come back here when you're done." David said.

I just left with "eh".

Talia's POV End

David's POV

"Your daughter is adopted, yes?" Lady Anastasia asked.

"Yes." I answered. I wasn't sure why Owen was so insistent that she stay away from Talia and Alex, especially Talia, but whatever it meant, it was not good.

"She has potential." Lady Anastasia smiled. I also didn't like that. "You look worn out, my dear."

"I am a bit." Fox held her arms out.

"Ok, you two, you can see them later. Fox needs her rest." She ushered out the men. "I'll keep the baby while you sleep." She started to walk away.

"No!" I grabbed her by the shoulders.

She looked at me confused. I smiled. "That's not necessary, of course." I scooped Alex back up and took him to Fox.

"But, David, I'm his grandmother." She said.

"And you must be tired your trip here." I said.

"What's going on?" Fox asked.

"Yes, what exactly is going on?" A blue skinned fae with a gargoyle dog asked.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"What are you doing here, my love?" He walked up to Fox's mother. "Have you forgotten the Gathering?"

"I am gathering even now." She said.

"We discussed this, my dear, it is my law that we not directly interfere in human affairs. Let the woman keep her child." He frowned.

"Keep my child?" Fox repeated, holding our baby close. "Mother, who is this guy?"

"Mother?" He laughed. "Titania, what have you been up to?" He asked with an amused smirk.

"Who is Titania?" Fox demanded snappily. "Mother, explain yourself."

"This should prove interesting." I said, putting a fist on my hip.

"More interesting than you know." He said. "It is time you dropped this façade, my queen." He put his chin to his palm and blew out green mist that passed Fox's mother.

"As you wish, my lord." She said and a green light enveloped her. We covered our eyes.

"Much better." He approved.

"Mother?" Fox asked.

"You see me as I really am, child. Titania, queen of Avalon. And this is Oberon, my lord and husband." Titania was a green teal skinned fae.

She walked away from him, "Oberon and I were divorced a millennia ago. With little to do, I have spent the last century studying the human magic men call science." She waved her hands around and a scene started to appear before our eyes. "Then some years ago, I met Halcyon Renard. In him, I found my intellectual match. We fell in love and we were married. Then you came along, Fox." She said as the scene paused on a pregnant Anastasia and young Renard. "Time passed and Halcyon soon proved to be too rigid to hold my interest. Truthfully, no one can, save Oberon." The scene faded. "And so we reconciled."

"Fascinating, my dear." Oberon looked at his wife. "And does your daughter possess magic?" He gestured to Fox.

"Alas, no. Fox was raised among humans and whatever magical ability she might have inherited has withered to nothing." She ruefully informed him.

"Can you be so sure?" He asked.

"I have seen her in great crisis after crisis and she has a keen mind, but her magic, if she possesses any, has never come to the surface." I grabbed a hidden gun from Fox's bed as the fae queen talked.

"And what of her child?" He asked.

"Her children." She corrected.

Oberon raised an eyebrow.

"That is what I was addressing when you came in, my husband. Although the bloodline has thinned, he has great potential." She said.

"With his pedigree, of course he does." I said smoothly.

"He has magic in him. And the girl too." She said, glaring at me.

"Talia?" I asked, surprised.

"I will not see it die as did his mother's. It must be encouraged, nurtured. I do not know the girl's linage, but her magic is also young." She faced her husband.

"This is ridiculous. My children will be nurtured right here with their father and me." Fox said.

"No, Fox, the children must be taken to Avalon where they can be properly trained in their mystical heritage if, of course, you would allow it, my lord." She held onto her husband's arm.

"As I see it, Fox has turned out be regrettably human and thus we cannot interfere in her life. However," He said as Titania given up hope, "The children are still of our blood. And if it pleases you to take them, you have my permission." He smiled.

"No, you can't have them!" Fox yelled.

"It's alright, no one is taking our kids anywhere." I stepped forward, showing Fox the gun. "Taking a child away from their parents is the epitome of interfering in human affairs. By your own law, you cannot allow this." I shook my head.

"I have made up my mind." He told us.

"Too bad for you." Fox covered Alex and got behind me as I shot the king with a laser.

He flew back into a table and hit the wall. "Oof."

I kept shooting at him. Two shots missed and by the third he made a shield and it bounced and went back at me.

"Ah." I ducked and rolled closer to him to shoot.

I kept firing until he dropped his shield and forced the gun out of my hand. He studied the gun. "Interesting toy."

I frowned and charged at him, "Boudicca." He said and the gargoyle dog tackled me before I hit him.

"You have fought for your children most admirable against impossible odds. I hope you find some comfort in that." He shrugged.

I roared and punched the dog off of me. I got up and charged at him again. He put his hand on my chest before I could touch him.

David's POV End

Fox's POV

Oberon turned David to ice, "I will not see you damaged any further."

I gasped as Titania held her hand out to me. "Get away from me!" I ran to my husband and caressed his cheek. "David…"

"We are not without a heart, child. You may have one hour to say goodbye to your children," He walked away. "before we returned to take them to Avalon forever." They disappeared in a bright green light as David was turned back to normal. He looked at me and held me as I cried and our son did too.

Fox's POV End

Talia's POV

"Oh, shit." I watched Lord Oberon declare that he would take me and Alex away forever in an hour. "We only have an hour before Oberon discovers that I'm an abomination."

"You're not an abomination, Talia. Don't worry, I planned for this ever since I knew you had powers." Owen reassured me.

"But I did what you said and she still knows." I said.

"She knows you have magic and nothing more. That is better than I hoped. Mister Xanatos and Fox will not give you up that easily. I am sure of it." He said.

"And Lord Oberon won't give in so easily either." I frowned.

"I must go, Tai. Stay here and remember your promise. I will come get you after this is all over." Owen brushed a strand of hair back.

"Ok." I sighed.

Talia's POV End

Owen's POV

I was at my desk now when Xanatos walked in. "Did you know that Anastasia was actually Titania?" He asked.

"Yes, I did." I pulled a flash drive out of the computer.

He frowned. "Then you knew that she came here to steal my children."

"No, but I feared it." I corrected and gave him the flash drive. "This contains security measures which I already implemented."

He looked at it. "Who authorized this?"

"I did, sir, as soon as I knew m- Talia had powers." I stood up. "Everything has been built to my precise specifications."

"Excellent." He smiled before he could realize I had slipped up.

"There are two things to remember. One, energy is energy, whether generated by science or sorcery. Two, Oberon is vulnerable to iron. His magic is powerless against it." I walked around my desk toward him.

"I knew you wouldn't let me down, Owen. Wait, where are you going? We got a fight on our hands." He asked as I left.

"I'm truly sorry, Mister Xanatos, but this is one battle in which I cannot risk becoming involved." I look at him before I left.

I must protect my daughter at all costs.

Owen's POV End

David's POV

The alarm sounded and the workers ran out of the building. I walked toward my father. "How could he desert me now?" I asked.

"At least, he left you well armed." My father said.

"In theory, anyway." I said as I took the remote and pressed some buttons.

A laser shield went up around the Eyrie Building.

"The hour is up. Has the attack begun?" My father asked.

"I can't tell. If it has, the force field must be protecting us." I said.

As Lord Oberon grew in size as I had a terrible thought. "Why is my daughter more important than Titania's grandson? And where is she?"

David's POV End