by Nicole Hall
The Wood didn’t care. It wasn’t sentient as far as anyone could tell, but it was powerful. To use the magic, her ancestors had to offer something up in return. What had she said to Sera all those weeks ago about her bond with Jake? A gilded cage. Without the cage, why wasn’t the town overrun with Fae?
What had replaced it?
The information about the Wood before the pact was sparse. An elemental forest, a conduit of magical power, a nexus. If it didn’t make conscious decisions, why was her magic locked inside her? The worst case scenario should have been them losing the protections, but Zee suspected more had happened. When she’d stuck her hand into the shadows to pull Ryan back, she’d detected something else. Not anger or anything so direct, but a defensiveness. The feeling was too vague to properly search for in the database, so she’d started looking into magical bonds instead.
Mulligan was full of people with some level of power. The Wood drew them. Like calls to like. Unfortunately, the Fae didn’t care much about the humans beyond their connection to the world outside the Wood. Magic was magic, but something about the humans made it act a tad differently.
Zee knew she and Ryan had been bound. She also knew they’d done it to themselves, but she couldn’t figure out how. Her best guess was that without her to guide the magic, his had attempted to follow some convoluted intention between them. Without knowing the specific intention, Zee was uncomfortable removing the bond. Not that I can at the moment anyway.
A loud ringing startled her. Ryan had a phone attached to the wall in his kitchen, which she’d thought was decorative until that moment. Someone was calling him. Zee shrugged and answered it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Sera. I set up the warrior princess class for tomorrow evening. I hope it’s enough warning, but there’s been a lot of interest today and it was the only time the gym was free.”
Zee switched ears and reached for her glass. “That should be fine. I assume someone will come get me as I have no intention of driving.”
“Ryan is going to take you. I already talked to him. I also made fun of him for having a landline and told him to get you a cell phone if he was going to be avoiding you.”
“He admitted he’s avoiding me?”
“Of course not, but I know. He’s a homebody, and he’s spending his day off at the school volunteering to do maintenance on the computer lab? Yeah, right. He likes his job, but he loves his free time. He’s avoiding you. Want to talk about it?”
It was strange having someone want to talk about her feelings. Strange, but nice. Zee was grateful, if unwilling to talk to anyone about Ryan just yet. “No, thank you. Maybe some other time. Is there any news on Will?”
Sera sighed. “Not yet. Jake is having a mechanic friend from Kilgore loan him a car, but we can’t get it until Tuesday. I’ve been keeping an eye on the Wood, at least the part I can see from the living room window, but there haven’t been any weird shadows or anything.”
Zee frowned. She didn’t want anyone else wandering into a confused elemental forest, but it was disturbing that nothing else had triggered it. Could I have done it? She’d been standing next to Ryan when the shadows emerged. Perhaps the bait had been for her. To be safe, she’d stay away from the Wood until they had more information.
“Zee? You still there?”
She’d almost forgotten Sera. “Yes, I’m sorry. I appreciate your vigilance. Will you let me know if anything changes?”
“Sure, but do you think people are really in danger if they go into the woods?”
“I’m not sure. Ryan wasn’t harmed, but he was prevented from leaving. It may be that when the Wood returns to normal we’ll find a pocket of townspeople who wandered in at the wrong time. Has anyone been reported missing?”
“No, thank goodness, and Jake has been spreading the word to stay away from the forest for now. People trust him, and everyone around here knows that sometimes you don’t ask questions.”
The sentiment made sense. A town founded on a conduit of elemental energy, next to a Fae village, full of people with varying levels of magic was somewhere that strange occurrences would happen with regularity. A thought slowly took hold. What if she was asking questions of the wrong people? She’d have to think on that a bit more. “If that’s all, I have studying to do.”
“What are you studying?”
“The Fae. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” Zee hung up without waiting for a response. Knowing Sera, she’d keep asking questions until dusk. She eyed the angle of the sun and debated if she wanted to be in the main living space when Ryan returned. The laptop worked as well in her bedroom as anywhere else.
Her stomach rumbled as she was unplugging it from the wall. She’d skipped lunch and only had juice and pastries for breakfast. If she was intent on doing her own avoiding, she’d better eat something. She dug through the pantry for the cereal she liked and grabbed a couple of bananas. It would hold her over until morning.
When she heard Ryan came home, Zee sat cross-legged on the bed with the computer in her lap, scrolling through advanced spells for gathering the magic of others. Her door was closed, but his footsteps hesitated as he walked past. She willed him to keep walking, and whether through magic or good instincts, he moved on to the kitchen. They hadn’t seen each other since they’d unbraided her hair, and she’d hoped the separation would ease the ache. Magic didn’t work that way, though.
Zee reinforced her shields in an attempt to concentrate on the words in front of her, but the bond had burrowed underneath. She could sense his every movement as he made himself some food and went into his room. Her body tried to convince her that keeping her distance was the height of stupidity, but she didn’t trust the way she acted around him. It was too easy to become distracted and let other concerns fall to the wayside.
She had to admit that human life wasn’t so bad, barring the disconnection from the natural world. As the days passed, she became fonder of the vibrant and surprising nuances. The longer she was away from the Glade, the more it seemed like a far-away dream. She’d stopped reaching for her magic as a first response to everything, and she was a huge fan of showering.
Despite all that, she could feel her magic curled up inside her, and the Wood required a sacrifice to maintain balance with the Fae living inside it. Although now that they didn’t need to keep Torix and his evil magic contained, maybe that sacrifice didn’t need to involve barriers at all. She’d have to consider the human impact as well, but none of this mattered if she couldn’t get back to the Glade. As much as Zee liked aspects of the human world, she couldn’t stay.
In the morning, Zee found a cell phone at her spot on the table with another note. I’ll be back at 5 to take you to the school. Nothing else. She powered on the phone and scrolled through the contacts. He’d preloaded himself, Jake, and Sera, and it came with emergency numbers, not that she needed them. It was older than her previous phone, heavier and with no touch screen, but it would do. She left it where she’d found it, and moved the laptop back onto the table.
Her neck was sore from staring down at it yesterday, and she felt safe from interruption in the kitchen with Ryan at work. The abundance of information surprised her with how much she didn’t know about her own people. They had schools of a sort, but very little was taught that referenced their history. She’d never considered it important, but knowing more about the past could have prevented many of the current problems. It was another change she was going to have to institute in the Glade.
The rest of the day passed with Zee reading tedious manuscripts. They’d scanned all the documents, so if the originals had small script, she had to squint to make it out. Her head was throbbing, and she wasn’t sure how to heal it without magic. Zee closed the laptop with fifteen minutes to spare so she could stretch and change into clothes that moved with her. The jeans were functional, but she preferred yoga pants.
RYAN
There were some days Ryan thought about faking his death and living out h
is life alone on a tropical island. When the kids were too rowdy to listen and the lab had problem after problem, he just wanted a beer and some quiet in his own home. Unfortunately, that wasn’t on the menu. Zee was in his home, and the quiet surrounding her was driving him insane.
Ryan admitted he’d been avoiding her, but she was doing the same. After the shower incident, which was by far the hottest thing he’d experienced in his life, he’d tossed and turned dreaming of her. He wanted to believe that what he felt was real, but he couldn’t bring himself to trust the magic between them. How could he know? He’d be damned if he became involved with Zee because some outside force said so. He deserved to be wanted for himself. Great. Now I sound like one of those sappy movies Sera is always watching.
Ryan came in the door scowling. Zee sat on the couch in the living room with her back to him, and his pulse sped up at his first look at her in days. She’d pulled all that glorious hair back into a single braid, and he wondered if it signified anything. Probably that she wanted to kick someone’s ass, and her hair had been in her face.
“Ready to go?”
She grimaced at him. “What do humans do for a headache?”
Ryan went into the bathroom and came back with a bottle of pills. He pulled one out for himself and tossed the rest to her. “Tylenol. Swallow one, it should help.” He followed his own instructions and watched her grimace as she tried to down it dry.
He went into the kitchen and filled a glass from the tap, then handed it to her. “This’ll help. Long day?”
Zee chugged the water before she answered. “My eyes feel gritty. Some of the documents are tiny and impossible to read.” She got up to put the glass in the sink and rubbed her temples.
Ryan crossed his arms so he didn’t reach out and replace her hands with his own. “Have you found anything useful?”
“I can tell you how many Fae it took to build the stone circle and when exactly the pact took place, but that’s the closest I’ve come. There’s a lot to sort through still.”
She didn’t meet his eyes, and he knew she was keeping something back. The Fae didn’t lie, but omitting some truth was totally acceptable. He wasn’t going to push. These were her secrets, for her people. Besides, he wanted to know about their other problem.
“What about the bond?”
“The best I can come up with is that it was an accidental spell. Magic can’t do things on its own, it needs guidance. Yours takes an…unconventional path. We made a deal that we both considered binding, and the magic bound us.”
The idea made a kind of sense, but it also reinforced his point that magic was unpredictable and dangerous. “Is there an off switch?”
Zee sighed and rubbed her temples again. “Not that I can see. Without clear parameters, I’m not sure what the bond is tied into. We could take the chance on Sera removing it, but—”
“No. We’ll keep looking.” As much as he hated another rein, he wasn’t going to risk Zee.
Ryan finally gave in to himself and brushed her hands away, stepping close. He rubbed her temples with his thumbs and concentrated on making her head stop hurting, instead of the feel of her skin or the warmth of her body just inches from him. A red glow emanated from his hands where they touched her, then subsided. He hadn’t meant to call his magic, but he hadn’t fought it like he normally would either. Zee sighed and relaxed almost instantly, leaning briefly into him.
“Thank you.” She covered his hands with hers, tilting her chin to meet his eyes. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but you have a lot of potential. You instinctively know how to use your magic, when you trust yourself.”
Danger Will Robinson. Ryan pulled his hands away and moved back. “I’m glad your headache is gone.” Strangely, his was gone too. He didn’t want to think too deeply about that. “We really should go though. Can’t have you being late for your first warrior princess class.”
Ryan pulled into a surprisingly full parking lot at the school. They didn’t have a large lot to begin with, but he hadn’t expected this much interest in Zee’s class. Part of it was probably curiosity at the newcomer, but knowing Zee, they’d learn something useful in addition to gossip fodder. He spotted Jake holding the door open so it wouldn’t lock and assumed Sera was already inside with the others.
Zee got out of the car and straightened her shoulders. She’d been distracted since he’d gotten rid of her headache, but now he watched her step into her role of leader with ease. Her body relaxed and she walked with confidence. She was most comfortable here, as the bearer of knowledge and power. Ryan followed her, but hung back and stopped next to Jake at the entrance. Zee didn’t notice, her eyes were already cataloguing the women gathered on the bleachers.
It wasn’t limited to women either. There were a couple of teenage boys, and Mr. Hogan was in the back attempting to blend in with the wall.
“How did Sera get so many people in only a day?”
“Turns out gathering people is her superpower.”
“Doesn’t she have enough of those already?”
Jake shrugged. “I figure she deserves as many as she can get after what she went through.”
“Speaking of that, can I ask you some stuff about what Zee did to you guys? The bond thing, I mean.”
Jake gave him a searching look. “Sure, but you don’t usually ask first.”
Zee was starting the class, so Ryan took a couple of steps inside and leaned against the wall. Jake kicked the door-stop down, followed him, and waited.
Ryan took a deep breath. Now or never. “Did you ever wonder if your reaction to Sera was because of the bond or magic or anything like that?”
Jake shifted awkwardly, and they both stared straight ahead. “No. All the bond did was make it more obvious. It’s harder to deny feeling something if it’s obvious to both of you. But was it caused by magic? Hell, no. I’ve wanted Sera since she was seventeen.” He grimaced. “And that sounded creepy, even though we were both seventeen. Let’s forget that last part and never tell Sera.”
Ryan laughed under his breath. He was definitely going to keep it a secret right up until he needed to use it for blackmail.
Jake snuck a glance at him. “Why do you care?”
Zee smiled and demonstrated something with her hands. She held the attention of the audience effortlessly, and Ryan didn’t want to look away. Maybe Jake would understand the sentiment.
“There’s a solid chance that I accidentally bonded Zee and me together. Since then…” He was going to say she’d been driving him crazy, but that wasn’t accurate. She’d always driven him crazy, but he’d had a better hold on it. It was like Jake had said; the bond made it impossible to hide.
Jake chimed in. “You can’t stop thinking about her, you want to touch her all the time, you tell yourself to stay away but then come running back the second she might need you?”
Ryan blew out a breath. “Yeah. That pretty much nails it.”
“Sorry, man. That’s not magic.” Jake shook his head in mock pity, then sauntered over to the group with his hands in his pockets.
Ryan stayed where he was by the door. He told himself it was so he could direct any stragglers, but the truth was he didn’t trust himself to be close to Zee. Her confidence was sexy as hell, and he hadn’t noticed until now, when she was back in her element, how much of it had drained away while she was dealing with everything.
Her braid swung as she answered questions, and he had to give Sera credit for finding better clothes on the second go-round. The black leggings showcased every muscle in Zee’s long legs, and though the top came down to mid-thigh, it skimmed the curves he dreamed about getting his hands on again. She’d even found a green color to match Zee’s eyes. Eyes that searched the gym, and flared with heat when they landed on him. She didn’t linger, and he felt the loss when she turned back to the assembly to organize them into groups.
If Jake was right and it wasn’t magic, then he was in a lot of trouble.
ZEE
&nbs
p; Zee had never been inside a gym before. All her previous training sessions had been outside on dirt-packed ground. This place was sheltered from the cold, well-lit, and had mats on the floor to protect the participants. It also had over twenty people excited to learn how to defend themselves. They listened intently as she explained the purpose of the class, to provide protection when needed. She didn’t want the moves she taught them to be use offensively for any reason. The boys tittered, but she quelled them with a glare.
After her introduction, she separated them into groups, two pairs each with one larger person matched to a smaller person. It was easier to defend against someone smaller, but she believed people should learn what was useful rather than easy. That meant the smaller people needed to learn how to defend against larger opponents.
There were an even number of people, so she ended up without a partner to demonstrate. Jake had declined to join in the class, and Ryan continued to stand by the door like some kind of sentinel. It didn’t matter for the first section. To her surprise, the townsfolk picked up on the basic moves easily. They practiced with a determined focus not often seen in her recent Fae trainees. She supposed the Fae were becoming complacent. Life didn’t change much in the Glade, and when it did, it brought Netflix.
She’d planned for the class to be an hour and a half. Twenty minutes of explanation followed by an hour of practice with a couple of breaks. At the first break, she determined that they needed to move on to some more complicated lessons. Ryan had pulled out his phone by that point, but he hadn’t moved any closer. She thought Jake might be asleep on the bleachers.
It was nice that they’d come for support, but now she needed at least one of them to participate. She glanced at Ryan, but moved on before he noticed. Too distracting. It would have to be Jake.
He was lying on the bench with his arms crossed behind his head and his eyes closed. Zee walked up to him and nudged him with her toe. He popped one eye open.