Something was clearly hilarious, and I’d missed the joke. I just hoped that whatever joke it was didn’t have to do with my death. Or the death of anyone I loved.
“Well, that is certainly one way to think about it,” Nemius nodded, leaning back and picking up what looked like a roasted squirrel leg. He bit into it, tearing straight through the leg and pulling an enormous chunk into his mouth, bones and all.
What was even more horrifying were the satisfied, squelching sounds that erupted from his mouth as he chewed. They turned my stomach over and made me nearly want to puke. It was a combination of slurping, chomping, and lip-smacking that sounded like it should have been coming from a savage, wild animal.
His companion seemed bothered, too, because I saw the man shift away and lift his shoulders to his ears, trying to drown out the sound.
“So,” Nemius said, chomping and speaking at the same time. It was absolutely disgusting. “What do you need this grimoire for? You said the price of helping me was access to it. I think I deserve to know why.”
There was a pause as the companion spoke. I strained my ears, trying my best to hear, but all I caught was the sound of a beetle nearby as it rubbed its wings together.
“Huh,” Nemius grunted, signaling his friend had stopped speaking. “Never heard of that one before. But then again, I do not know very much about your world. Except for the fact that I don’t like it, of course.”
I had to slap a hand over my mouth to hold back my gasp.
Your world.
The companion was from this world. Which meant they were human or witch. I hadn’t seen any hoofs or noticed any scales, which ruled out a faun or a mermaid. And obviously, he wasn’t a centaur or a dwarf.
But why would a witch be helping the fae? I would have liked to think that one of my own would never do such a thing, but it didn’t make any more sense for a human to be working with Elrind and her slithery little henchman.
I didn’t get a chance to work out all of the different MOs this new suspect could have, because all of a sudden, he stood and started to walk around the campfire. He lifted his arms and stretched, cracking his back and neck as he went.
Honestly, at first, I had no idea what he was doing. It wasn’t until the companion twisted around, under the guise of stretching his spine, that I realized I hadn’t been nearly as sneaky as I would have liked.
Because this mysterious companion twisted around and looked straight at me with a pair of grey eyes so bright and shiny, they looked like lightning.
Astounded didn’t even begin to cover it. Neither did freaked out. Or shocked. Surprised. Abhorred.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Those were Hunter’s eyes.
Because the companion was Hunter. The man I’d worked with and trusted. The man who’d tried to kill me. The man who had come with me to help save my family.
The man who’d disappeared into the night like some sort of ghost. He was here, in front of me, twenty minutes away from my house. And he hadn’t once bothered to drop in and say hello.
Probably because he’s working with your enemy, my inner voice of reason tried to remind me.
But I didn’t want to listen to reason yet. I wanted to be shocked and upset. I’d liked Hunter. I’d trusted him. And worst of all, I’d wanted to get to know him. I’d spent nearly a month all twisted up over a man who cared so little for me that he was working with my enemy, the fae woman he’d wanted to kill, in order to…
What?
I didn’t even know the answer to that question. What was Hunter’s goal? The last I’d heard, he was under orders from the Council to kill the fae who had been murdering witches. Unless the world had changed and someone had forgotten to tell me, that fae was still Elrind.
Just as quickly as they’d landed on me, his eyes flicked away, and he went back to focusing on stretching and wandering as if the two of us hadn’t just shared a heated, tense moment that I secretly wished could have gone on forever.
Hunter was working with the fae.
Suddenly, the grimoire didn’t seem nearly as important as getting the heck out of there was. I hated to admit it but seeing Hunter screwed with me. All I wanted were my nice, warm bed and a hot cup of tea with a very strong pour of whiskey in it.
I tore my gaze away from him, backpedaled, and headed back the way I had come.
16
“Nope,” I muttered to myself as I pretended to stomp through the woods.
I really wished I weren’t ten feet from a malicious fae so I could stomp away properly. I wanted to feel the ground slap underneath my sneaker-clad feet as I ran toward home, every step taking me farther and farther from Hunter’s betrayal.
I couldn’t do that, though, since I’d give myself away in an instant. So instead, I quietly crept along the forest floor, pinching my fingers together over and over with every step, substituting that for a good, loud stomp.
I couldn’t believe Hunter’s betrayal. But then, I couldn’t believe that I didn’t believe it. The man had done nothing but lie to me since the day we had met. He hadn’t told the truth about why he was investigating the witches’ deaths. He hadn’t told the truth about who he was. And then he’d left without saying goodbye.
Oh, yeah, and also, he’d tried to kill me because he’d been so caught up in his own idea of what was real and what was a lie that he hadn’t bothered to listen to a word I’d been saying. Even just thinking about it made my blood start to boil.
And with it, I felt my magic start to come back. All of a sudden, that boiling blood turned into electricity at the tips of my fingers, zipping up and down my arm and filling my body until I tingled all over, the exact same way I had when I’d first fought off Elrind.
Maybe Deedee had been a little bit right after all. Something about Hunter had been blocking my magic. All I’d needed was to see that he really was a liar and a complete fraud for my magic to unblock itself.
My physical progress wasn’t going nearly as quick as my mental progress, though. I could still hear Nemius’s stupid, high-pitched voice as he droned on and on about how much he hated the human world.
I was only five feet away from the camp when I realized I was being completely insane.
Why should I go home? I still had a mission to take care of. I needed to get that grimoire from Nemius and Hunter. Just because the idiot had shown me his true colors didn’t mean I was allowed to go and sulk about it.
So what? I thought to myself. Now you just have confirmation. You’ve been wondering for weeks now if Hunter is a jerk, and you’ve got your answer. Yes. A colossal one.
But even a colossal jerk had loyalties. Admittedly, I was a little confused. The hunters were meant to hunt down and kill fae. They were on the side of the witches in this age-old battle, so it didn’t make much sense that Hunter was working with a fae.
I needed more information. And I needed that grimoire.
So, I stopped myself in my tracks and slowly headed back toward Nemius’s campfire. This time, though, I made sure to steer very clear of Hunter, just so I didn’t have to see those icy-gray eyes of his once more.
Because, even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself, they still had the ability to light a fire in my chest and make me shrivel up like a schoolgirl.
I homed in on the grimoire at first, until I realized that Nemius had stopped with his grumbling. He was now just sitting there and staring at the flickering flames of the fire he’d built, in the center of the log and closer to the grimoire than he’d been before.
And he was alone.
Frantically, I looked around for Hunter, trying to spot him through the trees. But he wasn’t around the campfire at all. I didn’t see him anywhere.
My heart picked up speed again, even though I tried to tell myself that I had no reason to be afraid. I had my magic back. I could feel it zinging through my fingers and jonesing to leap out and do something.
It only took another second for my magic to decide what to do.
The grimoire.
I kept my ears open for any sign of Hunter’s approach, just in case he decided to be a grown adult and come over to have a conversation with me.
Not that I wanted that, at least not at that moment.
I reached out a hand toward the grimoire and tried to calm my mind. I had no idea what I was doing, but there was something inside of me, an instinct that had bloomed and was the driving force behind my magic. It was as if it had been lying dormant for quite some time, and now that I had managed to free it, it had a mind of its own.
That electricity started to jump out of my fingertips, fleeing my body and heading toward the grimoire. It came out in bright white sparks, like tendrils growing from the tips of my fingers, extensions of my hand fully intent on grabbing the grimoire.
And then I’d make a run for it.
The tendrils snaked across the ground, weaving and maneuvering through the dense detritus, until they landed on the edge of the grimoire.
It was like I could actually feel it. The sensation took me by so much surprise that I nearly gasped out loud. I staunched the sound at the last second so I didn’t give myself away, but that didn’t stop a smile from spreading across my face.
This was what magic felt like. It had been blocked for so long, waiting for the time when it could finally come out to play. I couldn’t believe I’d spent forty years in the dark about this part of me.
I loved it.
It was probably a terribly strange moment to have that sort of realization, but it hit me all the same. I loved my magic. I’d seen it as a burden at first, a curse that had cast a black cloud over my life without even telling me it was there. But now, as those tendrils clawed over to grab the book in their hands, and I could feel it as if it were in my own, I fell in love with my magic.
I wrapped the thin fingers around the grimoire and started to slowly inch it back toward me, careful to keep the movements small so the horned fae didn’t notice. Thankfully, he was intent on his fire, watching it like it was a TV show.
They probably didn’t have television in his world. Maybe they all just watched fire for entertainment.
Suddenly, a massive, warm hand snapped around my arm, clenching down so hard I could feel nails digging into my skin, and shocking me enough to make me lose my grip on the grimoire. As I gasped, my magic snaked back along the ground, shooting straight back into my fingertips and filling me with electricity once more.
My first instinct was to punch. I raised my left fist high, hauling back for the perfect blow to whoever had grabbed my arm right before I could complete my mission.
But a second hand grabbed my fist, effectively stopping the punch.
I turned my head and, unsurprisingly, found Hunter standing right there, his arms crisscrossed over themselves as he held my hands in his own.
Our gazes locked together, heated with anger and longing. I was ready to full out lose it and go crazy on him for not only leaving me the way he did but for stopping me from getting the grimoire back.
How dare he play on the side of the fae. How dare he work with them against my family.
I didn’t get the chance to say a word, though, because Hunter anticipated what was about to be a lecture and shook his head quickly. The man jerked his chin toward Nemius.
I just rolled my eyes. He had a fair enough point, but I still planned on showing him just how mad I was. Angrily, I lifted my foot and stomped down hard on his own. I didn’t use enough force to break anything, but I sure as heck bruised a bone or two.
Hunter’s face crumpled into pain, and he finally dropped his hands from mine. I could still feel my skin burning from his touch, but I kept myself from rubbing my hands together and trying to send those sensations away. Instead, I tried to enjoy the way Hunter was doubled over in pain, his mouth open in a silent scream as he clutched his ankle.
Of course, I didn’t enjoy it one bit, which made me as annoyed as I was angry.
Hunter managed to settle himself and stood up straight once more. The only indication that he was even in any pain was the slight wince in his right eye every time he took a step.
Right toward me. He was taking steps right toward me.
I backpedaled quickly, urging my magic back to my fingertips so I could defend myself if I needed to.
Was he going to kill me? He’d tried it once before and been unsuccessful. Maybe this time was for real. His life would have been easier if he’d never met me.
Or maybe it was the other way around.
Hunter, though, must have seen the fear in my eyes, because he stopped short and tilted his head. Sorrow filled his gaze, and he just shook his head, only once.
Then, he put a finger to his lips, pointed at Nemius, and waved for me to follow him as he turned and trudged quietly off into the depths of the forest, away from the fae.
I shouldn’t follow him. I should just get the hell out of here while I still have time. Go home and get some backup.
The four of us could take them now that my magic was back. Of course, I had the opportunity to take Hunter right then and there. His back was to me, and he no longer had the element of surprise on his hands. I could already feel the sparks jumping to my fingertips, ready to leap forward and do a million things. I could knock him out, or tie him up, or send him all the way to China. Somehow, I just knew that all of those things were possible for me.
I did none of them, though.
Hunter turned around just as I was debating, staring at me with his hands on his hips, giving me the distinct feeling that he knew exactly what I was thinking. And the look in his gray eyes was begging me not to, pleading for a chance to explain himself.
As a DA, I hadn’t been very big on second chances. Once people show you their true colors, you should believe them. That was how I operated.
By that logic, Hunter had shown me his true colors when he’d run away from me in these very woods.
Once again, though, I found myself bending my rules for him. I didn’t even know why I was doing it, but before I knew it, I had set my shoulders back and started to follow Hunter deeper into the forest, leaving my family’s grimoire behind.
And possibly going to my death.
17
Apparently, I wasn’t traipsing through the woods with the man who was working with my enemy fast enough because he doubled back and grabbed me by the wrist to try to drag me along.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed, wrenching my wrist from his grasp.
“Sorry,” he replied, putting his hands in the air defensively. “I’m just trying to get us out of earshot. He’s got goblin ears from his grandma’s side.”
“Oh, yeah, you mean your little friend over there,” I sneered. “Care to explain to me why you’re working with the fae? Isn’t your whole deal as a hunter to find them, and oh, I don’t know, kill them?”
“Just come on,” Hunter urged, glancing back over his shoulder worriedly. “He might still be able to hear us.”
“Let him,” I snapped, pulling to an abrupt stop and crossing my arms over my chest while I stared down Hunter.
He stopped, too, and turned to meet my gaze. I had been expecting annoyance, maybe even wrath, at the fact that I wasn’t just going along with what he wanted. But instead, his expression was full of guilt.
I tried to keep a tight grip on my anger, but the culpable expression on his face had started to chip away at it, slowly, like a hammer chips away at marble.
“Trust me, Shannon, you do not want him to hear us,” Hunter murmured darkly. “Nemius may be as dumb as a bag of rocks, but he’s got magic on his side that you and I could never dream of having.”
“Oh, yeah?” I quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t think so. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty powerful myself.”
I let my chest puff out just a little bit. I’d gotten a hold on my magic, finally, and despite the circumstances, I was still pretty proud of myself.
“Not enough of a hold,” Hunter growled, squashing my swelling pride wi
th his harsh tone. “You think that little stunt you pulled back there equals control? You think you know all there is to know about magic?”
“Of course not,” I snapped, rolling my eyes.
“Elrind spelled the grimoire,” Hunter hissed. “If that thing goes more than four feet from Nemius, she’ll know. And, Shannon, you might think you could defeat her twice, but do you really want to take the chance that last time wasn’t a fluke?”
I opened my mouth to say something biting and angry back to him, but then I snapped it closed once more when I really thought about his words.
He was right. I didn’t want to take that chance. I still had so much to learn about magic. My lessons with Mom and Grams were still only on Week #2: Herbs and Plants of the Magical World. I didn’t know how to detect spells or traces.
As much as I hated to admit it at that moment, maybe Hunter had done me a favor.
He saw the defeat enter my figure because he nodded proudly. “That’s what I thought.”
“All right, fine, so I’ve still got a lot to learn,” I snapped. “That doesn’t excuse the fact that you…you…”
Suddenly, I couldn’t find my words. What I wanted to do was call him out on the fact that he’d basically run away from me, but that felt too needy and childish. What was he to me, anyway? Just a guy I’d happened to meet while making a life-changing discovery. He owed me nothing.
“I left,” Hunter replied, finishing my sentence for me.
My eyes snapped back to his face, analyzing it, watching each and every feature to try and find the lie.
But there was none to find. He had done exactly what he said. He’d left. And the look of guilt on his face, with the slightly knitted brow and the pressed lips, was starting to convince me that I didn’t know the whole story.
“Yeah,” I finally said. “I woke up after that fight, and you were just gone. And when I went down to the forest to find you, you’d disappeared on me. Again. Why? I thought we were…friends.”
Divorce, Divination and Destiny Page 10