by L. Danvers
Screams ripped through the afternoon air, and the sea of bodies turned into a full-on stampede. Elbows flew and hands shoved as people ran for their lives. A few stragglers stayed their ground, cellphones in hand as they live-streamed the whole terrifying ordeal.
I spotted Grace, who was now fighting against the current of the throng, marching toward her father. Xander’s hand was already on her arm, but she flung a spell that made him stumble backward, releasing his hold on her. He was frazzled, but unharmed.
I lunged ahead, cutting her off from her path. “Grace, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Putting an end to this.”
“This isn’t the time. There are cameras here. You want your face all over the news, too? I know you want to protect people, but you have to be smart about it. Reed’s the only example they have of a witch. You don’t want people thinking you’re like him.”
She gritted her teeth, but something in my words must have rung true because the fierce rage in her settled. “I can fight him. Prove that we’re not all like that.”
“Of course you can. But don’t you think we should come up with a plan first?” I realized then how much the park had already emptied. Over my shoulder, I spotted Reed torturing one of the humans who had dared to challenge him. I shuddered. “We need to get out of here. Fast.”
“Not yet,” she said, her vision flicking to Reed’s human plaything.
Closing her eyes, she cast the same sort of spell she’d cast on Julian, making her unrecognizable. Before even giving the rest of us the chance to protest, she cast a spell to change our appearances, too. “That should keep your identities hidden long enough to get you to safety if... things go wrong.”
“Grace,” I pleaded, but she was already storming in the direction of her father. Her fingers curved as if she was gathering up balls of energy within her grasp, but she stumbled, and in an instant, she went limp and collapsed to the ground, her head smacking against a fallen tree branch.
The crowd was still frantically dispersing, and to my horror, people trampled right over her as if she wasn’t there at all. Xander, Julian and Charlotte were already racing toward her, but given that I was the fastest, I pushed ahead of them and gathered my friends in my arms. When I turned around, I saw that the spell Grace had cast over us was losing its strength. Julian’s dimples were returning, and his hair was turning more reddish-brown by the second.
BACK AT BEN’S, GRACE’S wound stitched shut as she returned to consciousness.
When we’d rushed out the door, we’d forgotten to turn off the TV. Reed’s speech was already all over the news, and various commentators were weighing in.
Julian’s phone was buzzing nonstop, as were Xander’s and Charlotte’s. News of Reed publicly outing the supernatural community and Julian had spread far and wide.
Growing frustrated with the same person calling him three times in a row, Julian let out a growl before answering. “Now’s not a great time.” But the harshness in his features soon faded and was replaced by concern. “Sam? No. Tell me this is some sort of twisted joke. He can’t be that stupid.” He pressed his palm to his face as if fighting off some internal anguish that was taking over. “Okay. Thanks for the update. Keep me posted, will you?”
With that, he hung up the phone.
Charlotte folded her arms. “What was that about?”
With a sigh, Julian explained that an old friend of his was taken in for questioning last night. Sam had been caught in an alley outside of a bar in Chicago feeding on a drunk twenty-something.
That was the problem with vampires living in the real world. As long as they fed on human blood, humans would always be in danger.
And now that the witches were turning against their fellow supernaturals, it was unlikely that they were going to be willing to spell up an endless supply of artificial blood. Which meant the vampires would have no choice but to feed.
“I’m sorry about your friend,” I said placing my hand on his shoulder. Even I knew the words felt hollow. I meant them, sure. But we all knew this was only the beginning.
Grace hung her head, hunched over in defeat.
“How are you feeling?” Xander asked.
“Better.” She blinked and realized we all looked like ourselves again. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Did you have any trouble getting back here?”
Julian shook his head. “No one noticed me. Everyone was too busy running away.”
“That’s... good, I guess.”
Xander began to pace. “This whole plan to lay low is going to backfire. It may not be today or tomorrow, but we can’t keep up the charade forever. We’re asking too much of her.”
“I’m fine,” Grace grunted.
“You used up too much power, and you collapsed. Sure, you can keep up my brother’s altered appearance again for a time, but what happens when you need your magic for other things? What if you’re in trouble and you can’t save yourself because you’ve run out of juice?”
I felt a tightening feeling in my throat. Xander was right. We were asking too much of her.
I chewed the inside of my cheek, thinking. There had to be some place we could go. Some place where Julian and I could settle down, where he could roam freely. “Can we start another kingdom? Make it a refuge for any supernatural beings who don’t want to live in the human world?”
“It’s a little late for that,” Ben pointed out. “Those kingdoms were created long before technology advanced this far. There are too many tools now. Too many people know now...”
I shook my head. I refused to accept defeat. I was not going to spend eternity waiting for Julian to be discovered.
Then, another idea came to me. “Can people be compelled through the TV? Maybe I could find a way to get on air and make everyone forget about everything they saw.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“We could split up,” Xander suggested. “Compel everyone in town. Not a perfect solution, but it’d be a start.”
“Yeah, except they all have access to TVs and phones, Xander,” Charlotte snapped. “It’d take a grand total of two seconds for them to figure it out again.”
I plopped down on the couch, feeling utterly hopeless. Why couldn’t fairy godmothers be real? It’d give anything for someone to magically appear and give a little flick of a wand to make this all go away.
Then it hit me.
“The faeries,” I gasped.
Everyone turned around and stared at me like I was crazy. I might as well have said aliens.
But I was on to something. Not a perfect plan... but a plan nonetheless.
“Crazy idea,” I said, returning to my feet. “But you know how the faeries created a portal to a new world when they were banished from the Kingdom of the Silver Seas?”
“We are not going to the faerie world, Danielle,” Julian said firmly.
“No. But maybe we can get them to create a portal to another world. One where vampires, werewolves, witches and any other supernatural being who wants to live in peace can escape to.”
Ben scratched his head. “And how are you going to find a faerie if they’re all in another realm?”
Julian’s eyes widened with understanding. “No. No, Danielle. I can’t—”
“We have to. What other choice do we have? Grace can’t keep up that spell on you forever. And the world is falling apart around us. It’s not safe for us here. It doesn’t have to be a permanent solution. We can come back when things calm down.”
“This isn’t a decision we need to rush into. And how can I possibly ask this of Keo? You know what she did to him.”
“What who did?” Xander asked.
“I am so confused,” Charlotte added.
I told them all about Aurora, the faerie who had forced Keo into marriage. The faerie who had marked him. The faerie he hated more than anyone else on this entire planet.
I knew this was going to be a big favor to ask of him. A favor we could never repay.
But if he could get her to agree, it would change everything. We could all have a chance to live peacefully. To lay low until things settled down enough for us to return.
Julian
I missed the days when I didn’t care about people’s feelings. I reclined against the first-class seat, shutting my eyes, trying to think through what I was going to say to Keo. I didn’t dare ask him this favor over the phone. But I did give him a warning that we were coming.
He told me that was a terrible idea given what Reed had done. What’s more, the Kingdom of the Silver Seas had erupted into chaos. Boats and crashed aircraft speckled the magical waters that surrounded the land, yet a couple of helicopter pilots had managed to reach the Kingdom without falling prey to lure of the spelled water. Apparently, the humans had used a device that had stunned the supernaturals. Some escaped, but not all. Keo didn’t know what happened to those who were left behind.
Currently, he was hiding out in a cavern, unsure of whether it was safe to get out.
He agreed to try to get back to his home by the time we could get there. Otherwise, we’d never find him.
I could sense the hesitation in his voice. He thought us visiting was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard. And yet, from what I inferred, he didn’t want to be alone in this. Perhaps having some friends alongside him would give him the strength to get through this—which only made me feel worse. Because we weren’t coming to help him. We were coming to ask him to ask a favor of the faerie who had tormented him. And favors always came with a price.
I just hoped it’d be one we’d be willing to pay.
“Okay,” Grace said, trying to understand the plan. “But how are we going to get there without anyone noticing?” Reluctantly, she took another drink from Xander’s wrist. She had to keep her strength up if she was going to be able to hold the spells to alter our appearances and cast a bubble of sorts around us so that we could speak freely on the flight without the humans overhearing us.
Speaking to her across the aisle, Danielle explained, “Keo has a friend—Miguel. He’s the one that brought us there the first time.”
“And you think he’ll be willing to risk his life to help us?”
Danielle shook her head. “I don’t know. But he’s our only chance of getting there.”
“We could always compel him if we had to,” Xander pointed out.
Grace scowled. “You’d compel someone to risk their life for you?”
“What part of only chance did you not understand?”
“She has a point,” Danielle said. “If we’re going to start over in a new world, we can’t do so on the backs of the lies we’ve fed to people...”
Xander snorted. “Says the hybrid who used her compulsion to snag a first-class ticket.”
“That’s different,” she barked. “And you know it. I’m not putting anyone in danger by sitting in this seat. But I’m not going to make someone sacrifice their life so that I can live in peace. I’m not a monster.”
“Those fangs beg to differ,” Xander winked.
“Enough,” I said sternly. “We’re all on edge, and fighting among ourselves isn’t going to get us anywhere. If we’re going to pull this off, we’re going to have to work together.”
Danielle folded her arms across her chest, challenging me with the lift of an eyebrow. “And if Miguel refuses to help us?”
I sighed. “Then we’ll find another way.”
GRACE TOOK AN EXTRA-long drink from Xander before we got out of the cab. She was going to need all the strength she could muster in order to pull this off.
In our magically altered bodies, we headed into the café where Miguel was enjoying a snack while scrolling through the latest news reports on his phone. I had to admit, having a witch as an ally did come in handy—it would have taken us days to find him had Grace not used her tracking spell.
Miguel eyed us with suspicion as the six of us approached him. “Miguel?” I started, slipping into the chair opposite from his, offering him my hand. “Julian Dumont.” Even I had to admit that my name sounded downright ridiculous with my spelled southern accent.
“No, you’re not.”
“I am. I’m in disguise. I’m sure you’ve seen my picture all over the news. I couldn’t walk around looking like, well, me.”
His nose twitched, no doubt using his heightened sense of smell to sniff out the truth.
I chuckled. “My scent is masked, too, I’m afraid. You’re going to have to trust me on this one.” I gestured toward Danielle with my chin. “You’ll remember my girlfriend, Danielle. And these are my siblings and uncle, and one of our friends. Appearances altered—for our protection, and yours.”
He hardly blinked. “Why are you here?”
I folded my arms on the table and leaned in, speaking low so that the café’s patrons couldn’t overhear. “We need your help getting into the Kingdom of the Silver Seas.”
He stared at me for a second before bursting into laughter. “You’re joking. Right? Please tell me this is some sort of weird prank.”
“Afraid not.”
“Are you insane? That’s suicide. Thanks to that idiot witch, everyone knows what’s there. There’s no way to get in undetected.”
“Even with a very talented witch on our side?”
He shook his head. “You’re out of your mind if you think you can get in there without being caught.”
Frustrated, I let out a sigh. I glanced back at the others. “Can Miguel and I have a moment alone?”
Charlotte shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind getting some coffee.” The others went along with her and headed for the counter to place their orders.
I returned my attention to Miguel. It was time to pull out the big guns. “Keo’s there.”
An unrecognizable emotion flickered across his face before it went stern again. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you. Do you have any idea how much I risked by fleeing the kingdom the first time? Sure, I didn’t mind giving passage to people now and again. But that was when it was safe. I didn’t run away from the kingdom just to go down with it now.”
“And what about your friend? Our friend?”
“Keo would never ask me to risk my life for his sake.”
“A true friend wouldn’t have to be asked,” I barked. I pushed the chair back as I stood, shaking my head in disappointment.
The others had settled down at a table on the other end of the café, and so I went over to join them.
Before I had time to sit, Xander jerked his head and signaled that he wanted to step aside for us to talk. We found a spot in the hallway away from the commotion. “He said no, didn’t he?” Xander asked.
I nodded.
“And what did you say?”
“What could I say?” I said with the shrug of a shoulder.
Xander’s mouth fell open, eyes widening in disbelief. “Who are you and what have you done with Julian?”
“What do you mean?”
“Three months ago, you would have grabbed him by the throat and demanded he did as you said. You would have kept threatening and hurting him until he gave in.”
“I promised Danielle I wouldn’t force him.”
“And you’re keeping promises now? Seriously, man. What happened to you?” I opened my mouth, starting to answer. But he cut me off. “And I swear if you tell me something stupid like being in love has changed you, I’ll smack that enchantment right off your face.”
I couldn’t help but smirk. I chewed on his words for a minute. He had a point. But the truth was that I didn’t miss that version of myself. Back then, I was only thinking of myself. And I didn’t consider how my actions affected those around me. But the whole reason that any of us were on the run was because it was my face plastered all over the news. I couldn’t change that. But I didn’t want anyone else to suffer because of me. And Danielle’s argument was valid. I shouldn’t trick someone into risking their life for my sake.
“Look, you might have made a promise to your girlfriend, but I ma
de no such deal. We didn’t come all this way to give up now.” With a devious smirk, he turned on his heel and marched toward Miguel’s table.
I started to follow him, but Danielle cut me off. “What was that about?”
I scratched my eyebrow. “Miguel refused to help us, and I told Xander I wasn’t going to force Miguel into doing anything that would put his life at risk, just as I’d promised. But...”
Danielle’s jaw clenched. Without waiting for me to finish my sentence, she marched after Xander, who was hovering over the table, eyes fixed on Miguel, and grabbed him by the arm. His face scrunched in pain as she dragged him away, freeing Miguel from whatever hold Xander had had on him.
Miguel shook his head before staring down Xander, who was being pulled by Danielle like some scolded child.
I always knew she was a keeper.
Once they were back at the table, he jerked out of her grasp. “Why’d you do that?”
“Because what you were doing was wrong.”
“So, what now?” He huffed. “We give up and head back to Quarter Square? Hide Julian in Uncle Ben’s house until the end of time?”
Danielle scrunched her eyebrows, lost in thought.
“Huh?!” Xander pressed.
Grace made some indecipherable sound and pressed her fingertips to her head. Without missing a beat, Xander bit into his wrist and then came up behind her, wrapping his arm around her from behind while pressing his wrist to her mouth to drink. Since she was facing the back of the café, to anyone else, it would have looked like he was giving her a hug.
“Can any of you steer a boat?” Danielle asked.
“No,” Xander and I said in unison.
“I can,” Uncle Ben said.
“Good.” Danielle headed back toward Miguel’s table. He was visibly annoyed now, having been interrupted by us multiple times. But his tense features relaxed as they spoke. Before I knew it, he put something her hand, and she headed back over to sit with us.
“So?” Xander nudged, his wrist healing itself as he stood there with his hands planted on his hips.
Danielle held up the keys and twirled them around her finger. “He gave us the keys to his boat,” she said before tossing them to Uncle Ben.