Bryn narrowed her eyes at me. “An Elemental?” she repeated sarcastically, then laughed. “She’s their Queen!”
Luce laughed in return. “Yes, yes, I understand your concern, Bryn.” He raised his hands as if to shush her. “But let me repeat that she is one of us.”
Bryn shook her head and rolled her eyes. “How is that possible?”
Luce laughed again, a deep rumbling sound. Then he quieted himself and faced her. “It is possible, my dear Bryn, because she is your sister.”
I didn’t know what to say, and Bryn looked like she’d just seen a ghost, so I guessed neither did she. There was complete silence inside of my mind, so apparently Rand had no response either. We were all just stunned into silence. A few seconds later his shock wore off and my body was engulfed with a sudden certainty that I shouldn’t trust either of them. Rand was sure they were trying to set me up for something. As much as I wanted to believe that, I couldn’t deny that Bryn and I did look alike … a lot. And more than that, there were those strange feelings I had about her that hinted at some sort of intimacy between us.
“Excuse me, what?” I finally demanded when I remembered that my tongue worked.
Luce turned to me and laughed lightly while trying to appear understanding. I’m not sure what it was about ancient beings, but they just didn’t seem able to portray human emotions very well. He looked like nothing but a charlatan to me.
“Did you not notice the family resemblance?” he asked me, as if my surprise was unfounded.
I turned to face Bryn again. This time the similarities in our eyes, noses, and mouths were so obvious I couldn’t understand how I’d tried to explain it away. We were related—it was as clear as the fact that we were the same height, with the same build—granted, she was in way better shape than I was but, hey, I was pregnant!—and similar features. If she were blond and not quite so tan, she’d practically be my clone.
“I can’t be related to one of them!” Bryn yelled, and shook her head as if she absolutely refused to believe it. The idea seemed to appall her. But she had to know, as I did, that there was something to it. In her gut she had to know it was true. It was like one of those things you could fight as much as you wanted, but it wouldn’t matter, it was an evident fact. I couldn’t understand how it was possible, but I believed it.
So if Bryn really was my sister, did that mean I was definitely a Lurker? I felt a wave of anger rising within me, and realized it was Rand. He obviously didn’t believe she was my sister, and he was still convinced it was Lurker magic. The feelings roaring through me also told me I wasn’t a Lurker and never would be one.
“This can’t be possible,” I started, remembering my history and my parents’ history. I knew where I came from, and it had nothing to do with this compound.
“It is quite possible and also quite true,” Luce continued, smiling at both of us, like we were on the Maury Povich show, like we should be embracing and celebrating our reunion as long-lost sisters. Instead, I wished I had a DNA test on hand.
Bryn shook her head again, exhaling. “Why didn’t you ever tell me? Why didn’t you prepare me?”
Luce turned to face her, his expression sympathetic, but there was also a steeliness to his eyes, something that told me he would be fiercely loyal only to his own goals and desires. There was nothing good about this man. That feeling struck me solidly. I gulped.
“I did not think it my place, Bryn,” he answered lightly. “I knew this day would come and I thought it best for you both to learn of your lineage together.”
“So, what? Are we twins?” she continued, staring at me with another frown and shaking her head like she felt sorry for herself.
“Quite so,” Luce said with a nod. “Although fraternal twins, obviously.”
My throat constricted—could it be true?
It might still be magic, I told myself. She could have magicked herself to look like me.
She frowned at me. “It isn’t magic.”
I bit my lip, irritated with myself that I hadn’t shielded my thoughts better. I said nothing more, just tried to make sense of the thoughts swarming through my head. How was it possible that I had a twin? And worse, a twin who was my enemy? From the looks of it, Bryn wasn’t just any enemy either—she appeared to be pretty high up on the Lurker ladder. Her position as a trainer in combat, her ability to heal the sick, and her sensitivity to thoughts, all pointed to the fact that she wasn’t just anyone. Really, it was just my luck that I would have an evil twin.
“Why were we separated?” I asked, deciding to focus on facts. I needed to get all my questions answered, to understand my heritage and what I truly was. Yes, I knew Rand was along for the ride, but I figured now was as good a time as any, and that he’d hear the same things I did, for truth and discovery.
Luce smiled that fake smile that made my stomach turn on itself. “I am certain you have many questions. Let us retire to your accommodations.” Then he turned to Bryn and raised a brow. “Bryn?”
She just nodded. When he offered his arm, she shook her head and started off in front of us both, clearly pissed off. Whether she was more pissed off that I was her twin or that Luce had never told her, I couldn’t be sure. It was probably a combination of both.
I didn’t take Luce’s arm either, but I walked beside him as my mind raced with unanswered questions. Rand continued to bombard me with the feeling that I shouldn’t trust them, and I could tell that he was now hell-bent on getting me out of here. But as to where “here” was, I still didn’t have a clue. And even though Luce had admitted that most of the people in the camp didn’t know more than I did, I wasn’t about to let that stop me. I turned to face him. “I think it’s only fair for you to tell me where we are … I mean, if you expect me to take my place as Queen?”
Luce smiled, nodding. “Yes, of course. We are in the forests of the Smoky Mountains.”
I gulped. We were in Tennessee then? In the States? Luce’s magic had been strong enough to transport us both from Scotland all the way back to the United States? It was a thought that frightened me, so I dropped it, focusing instead on the dirt path that led to the last house on A Street. A house that, by the looks of it, was meant to be my new permanent home. I felt my stomach acid riding up my throat at the very thought.
Bryn threw the door open and disappeared inside, still outraged. Luce smiled apologetically at me. “She will warm up to the idea, sooner or later.”
I nodded, wondering when I was going to warm up to the whole thing myself. I was suddenly overcome again with the conviction that this was all a sham intended to confuse me and win my loyalty. In Rand’s mind, it was all just a game, a way to get under my skin and make me doubt myself.
But I couldn’t say I agreed with him. Somehow this just felt too real.
I entered my house and quietly took a seat on the sofa opposite Bryn, wondering where Luce would choose to sit. Beside me, as a welcoming gesture, or would he sit beside Bryn, in an attempt to soothe her? He stood in the middle of us both, choosing, wisely, to do neither.
“I am certain you both have questions—” he started.
“How is it possible that we’re related?” Bryn interrupted, her voice wavering with her anger. It wasn’t lost on me that she refused to so much as glance in my direction.
Luce cleared his throat and nodded, eyeing the floor as if he wasn’t sure where to start. Then he looked back at her for a few seconds before facing me again. “Your mother was fae,” he began.
I shook my head. “My mother is human,” I said before I had the chance to think about it. Had I thought about it, I would have not said anything at all. Immediately I felt a bolt of irritation snaking through me and realized it was Rand. He was reminding me not to impart any information to my enemies. Even if he hadn’t reprimanded me, I would have realized the mistake on my own. I needed to keep a lower profile, telling them as little about myself as possible.
Luce shook his head at my comment. “The mother you knew was
not your true birth mother.”
“How?” I demanded, figuring it was safe to ask that question. It wasn’t like I was showing any more of my cards.
“Because you were switched at birth,” he finished. I just shook my head, not understanding how that could be. It just sounded so fake, so cliché.
“Who switched me?” I asked.
No, Jolie! I heard Rand’s voice in my head.
I shut him down. I had to reinforce that it wasn’t safe for us to talk, especially not when Bryn was so sensitive to people’s thoughts and could easily overhear us. Luckily, it didn’t seem she’d picked up on his voice in my head. Maybe she was too overwhelmed by this newest bomb that had just been dropped in both of our laps.
“I do not know who switched you—”
“Tell us about our mother,” Bryn interrupted. Her saying “us” and “our mother” made me guess she was buying into this whole thing. ’Course, she’d been raised to trust Luce all her life, so why would she start doubting him now?
“She was of the fae, as I said—” Luce started.
“Then she was otherworldly?” I threw out there, realizing that if this was true, Mathilda had been right about my fae lineage all along. The thought of Mathilda made me incredibly homesick. I wanted nothing more than to see her again.
“Yes,” Luce admitted with tight lips. “Though your father was one of our kind.”
I gulped down instant heartburn, not knowing what to think or say. Rand’s feelings continued to flash through me, and for the moment I wanted to simply silence him, to close off the bond so I could consider Luce’s words on my own. Rand’s constant reactivity to what was going on was becoming a major distraction. What if what Luce was saying was true? What if I’d been half fae and half Lurker all along?
“So you’re saying I am partly one of them?” Bryn demanded, sneering at me when she mentioned “them.”
“No,” Luce said, and shook his head gently. “You have always been one of us, my dear.”
“But my mother wasn’t,” she said flatly, even though there was a question in there somewhere.
I noticed she still refused to look at me. It was like she was physically disgusted that she could be related to someone so low. ’Course, I had to admit that I was pretty upset about any possibility that I was of Lurker stock. Talk about a rude awakening.
“No, your mother was not of our kind,” Luce said simply. “The relations between her and your father were strictly prohibited.”
“Then he was an Elemental?” I asked, figuring he couldn’t have been a Daywalker since Bryn and I both possessed magic; and last I checked, neither of us had incredibly pointy canines.
Luce smiled. “Yes, your father was a very noble Elemental. He captured your mother during a raid.” So he must have raided a fae village and taken my mother hostage. Yeah, he sounded like a really noble dude.
“And what, raped her?” Bryn demanded. I almost felt happy she was here, asking all the questions that either didn’t occur to me or I chose not to ask. I still wasn’t sure what I believed. I felt like I was lost in a dream that I couldn’t wake from.
“No,” Luce said and sighed. At that moment I realized he would have preferred for it to have been rape. I gulped down the feelings of hatred that suddenly boiled inside of me.
“Then what?” Bryn demanded.
“Your father loved your mother,” he said simply, but in that statement was a background story. I could feel it. It was more than obvious that Luce hadn’t approved of the union.
“What happened to them?” I asked softly.
Luce shrugged. “I do not know all the details,” he said. “Your father eloped with your mother and left us.”
Bryn’s breath caught in her throat as if that was the vilest thing she could possibly imagine. “Did he become one of them?” she demanded, her voice low, as if the story could only get worse.
“No,” Luce said, and I could tell he didn’t want to continue telling it. It made me think our father had met with an end that wouldn’t put Luce in a good light.
“What happened to him?” I persisted.
“That is a story for another day,” he said simply, but his tone was determined. “What I will tell you now is that when we learned your mother was pregnant with twins, we made it our business to stop at nothing to ensure that you were both ours.”
I felt something that resembled fear shoot up my spine, and goose bumps broke out across my skin.
“You took us, then?” Bryn asked, seemingly not at all disturbed by that fact.
“Your mother,” Luce responded. “We took your mother.”
“How?” I started, but he shook his head, making it clear he didn’t want to get into the minute details—of how he’d kidnapped our pregnant mother from the fae. And who knew where our father was at that point? Maybe dead. I felt sick all the way to my toes.
“What is important to know is that when your mother went into labor, there were complications, and we did not have the facilities in those days to care for her. Since your welfare was at stake, we were forced to take her to a human hospital.”
“Didn’t magic work on her?” I demanded.
He shook his head. “No, my magic did not. She was very powerful in her own right, as a fairy, and my magic failed to … help her.” Then, as he glanced at Bryn again, he resumed his story. “We had no choice—we could not endanger your lives.” He took a big breath and exhaled it slowly, as if reliving the stress of those days all over again. “After giving birth to you two, your mother died,” he said simply.
But it was a statement that shouldn’t have been issued so drily or treated like a minor detail. Now I was anxiously aware that there had to be more to it. Yes, okay, our mother was dead, but it was how she died that now concerned me.
“Then something interesting happened,” he continued. “You, Jolie, were switched with another baby in your mother’s ward, whether by design or sheer human mistake, I don’t know.” Based on the way he said it, he clearly didn’t believe it was a coincidence. I didn’t either.
“Then you’re saying I was never my mother’s child?” I said, feeling suddenly hollow because it made sense. I had seen pictures of my mother pregnant, but who was to say she’d been pregnant with me?
“Yes, that is what I am saying,” Luce finished.
“Then what happened to her baby?” I demanded.
He nodded slowly. “We raised her as our own and she is still among us today.”
“She’s a Lurker?” I bleated, shock and anger in my tone.
“A what?” Bryn said to me, furrowing her brows. She turned to Luce. “What did she call us?”
Luce looked at her and laughed. “It is their word for us.”
“Lurkers?” she repeated, and shook her head, like it was all very strange, and almost amusing in its strangeness.
Luce then faced me again. “She is neither a Daywalker nor an Elemental,” he said simply.
“Then what is she?” I asked.
“A human,” he answered.
“Then how is she one of your kind?” I continued.
“We have humans who assist us,” he finished succinctly. “I believe she provides cleaning duties.”
That revelation made me incredibly sad. Granted, I had never been close to my mother, but she had always thought of me as her own. Now that I knew I’d been someone else’s child, it just made me feel for her. What made it worse was that her real daughter, her real flesh and blood, was just a cleaning lady for these bastards. My jaw tightened as hatred filled my body. I suddenly detested Luce for relegating my mother’s daughter to such a position—cleaning up after his kind!
“So when did you realize the mix-up?” Bryn asked.
“After it was too late.”
“So why not just tell the hospital there was a mix-up or go after Jolie yourself?” she continued. Hearing her say my name struck me as odd. Well, the whole situation struck me as odd because it was so completely … wrong, hideous in ho
w wrong it was.
“There were outside forces that intervened,” Luce said simply. “And we were unable to locate Jolie or her adoptive mother.”
That was when I realized the Underworld had somehow gotten involved in all this. It was a feeling that surged through me, a triumphant one. Somehow, someone had known what was going on, and they’d made sure the Lurkers didn’t get me. That someone, I had to imagine, was Mathilda. Why Bryn had ended up in the hands of the enemy, I had no idea.
I realized then that Rand had gone completely quiet on the other end of our bond. It was as if the truth in what Luce was saying had sunk into him too. I didn’t even want to think about what that might mean. My fear—that he might forsake me for my connection to the Lurkers—hit me hard.
All of a sudden, anger flared through me and I realized that Rand had received my thought. He rebutted it instantly and filled me with feelings of love and adoration. He would never give up on me! That’s what he was saying. He loved me and that’s all there was to it.
Luce glanced at me and smiled, but the sight of him sickened me. I wanted to hit him until I could force that smirk right off his face. “We have been seeking you ever since.”
“And how did you find me?” I demanded, attempting to squelch my anger.
“When we learned there was a Queen of the Underworld, I immediately knew she had to be you.”
“How?” I insisted.
“Because I knew children,” he glanced at Bryn, “born of fae and Elemental parents would have powers that have never before been seen.”
“Then you heard about my abilities?” I asked, referring to my gift for reanimating the dead.
He simply nodded. “I knew you were she and she was you; and I refused to let up until I had returned you to your rightful home.”
Something Witchy This Way Comes: A Jolie Wilkins Novel Page 18