Sister Seeker

by Shelby Hailstone Law

  And, yeah, I was still mad at Theresa for betraying us. But I wasn’t going to let her fall victim to a Family member’s fury.

  I didn’t pause to consider what I was doing as I reached out to the wind. After all, I had seen Elaine talk to the elements often enough, and I knew from my past experience that the elements and I made a good team. So, I simply, quietly, asked the wind to help me get down to Theresa faster.

  Sure, I could probably have pulled my belt off and flown like a normal witch. I guess that didn’t occur to me, not when most of my lived experience had been about using my magic in quiet ways. Nothing as flashy as a broomstick that would catch human attention and would end with me tied to a stake. No, I had always tried to work with the natural world around me—because no one looked as closely at nature as they did at figures in the sky or flashes of light and energy.

  All that being said, I absolutely hadn’t expected the wind to answer my request for help by literally picking me up like a kite and bringing me down to the ground in a rush of wind.

  Yeah, that’s right: I flew.

  I didn’t exactly have time to think about it, even with Aaron whooping and laughing about my “superpowers” over my head. I had a more important task: I could see Tony struggling to get to Theresa—who had managed to get to her feet only to get shot in the stomach while she was still off-balance. Wendy had found an opening against Theresa, and she absolutely wasn’t going to let her advantage pass her by.

  Andrew had taught me the same thing when I’d first joined the Rendezvous and he tried to teach me how to fight. “There’s no such thing as kicking a man when he’s down,” Andrew had said. “You kick him until he stays down. No one pulls any punches in a real fight.”

  Wendy obviously subscribed to the same philosophy. As soon as Theresa had crumpled with the first gunshot, Wendy followed it up with a second to the head that meant Theresa was down and out until she could heal from the devastating hits.

  “No!” I heard Tony shout behind me, throwing out a spell that knocked everyone—including me—out of his path to Theresa.

  I could see Wendy grinning, repositioning herself to take Tony on, but I wouldn’t let that stand. I snapped my fingers, and sparks flew from the tips an instant before a lightning bolt flew past my pointed finger and crashed against Wendy’s shield.

  Wendy looked up and broke into a wicked grin when she saw me getting to my feet, still pointing at her. “Oh, you want to play?” she asked, already readjusting her stance to face me properly.

  “Better than leaving you to hit a defenseless, healing woman,” I shot back, my mouth once again moving faster than my brain.

  “What do you care?” Wendy asked, waving her hand dismissively. “She obviously doesn’t care about you. She sold you out—or don’t you remember that?”

  “I don’t blame her,” I shot back as I walked slowly, deliberately, toward Andrew’s sister. I could see the same cocky confidence in her gaze as she raised her chin that Andrew always showed when he would take on any battle, even a training battle with me. But I was better trained now, and I figured I could give her a run for her money until Tony could get Theresa somewhere safe. Maybe not any longer than that, but I could play distraction, right? Right.

  Wendy sneered. “You’re such a hopeless optimist that you’d even let someone destroy you—as long as you think they were acting in service of their heart.”

  “At least I know what family actually means,” I said coolly. “Which is more than I can say for you.”

  I’d clearly struck a nerve with that; I saw a flash behind Wendy’s eyes that turned into a bright spell careening my way. I barely got my shield up in time, and the spell shattered into every color on the spectrum when it hit, leaving me blinking and seeing stars.

  As I’d already seen, Wendy only needed a momentary distraction to get the advantage in a fight. As soon as she had me even partially blinded, she rushed forward, firing several shots in rapid succession into my shield and then slamming into it herself, a red-hot handprint slowly melting its way through my defenses where she touched it.

  Before she could break through my shield, though, I finally got my wits again, and I reached out to call to the earth and perform one of my favorite tricks—forming avatars out of the dirt. In particular, I was fond of tigers, though in the current setting, the dirt formed a jaguar. Its teeth gleamed when it opened its mouth and roared at Wendy, and she had to turn her attention away from me and my melting shield to defend herself from my little friend.

  That gave me the time I needed to readjust my shield, and once I did that, I put one hand out to direct my avatar spell. My dirt tiger could pretty much handle itself, but I had to help it stay ahead of the spells Wendy was throwing at it to try to destroy it.

  She tried to blow it up, and I turned it to a cloud of dust that took jaguar shape again. She tried to blow the dust away, and I turned it to metal. She tried to melt it, and I turned it to electricity.

  I’d seen other witches’ battles like this, though I didn’t realize at the time that I was doing exactly what I had always admired: keeping pace so that the battle would have to rely on a single mistake. We were evenly matched; Wendy reacted as quickly to my changes as I could come up with new forms for my jaguar to take. The one advantage I had was that while we had the same pace when it came to spells, my jaguar kept clawing at Wendy while she tried to find a way to make it stop.

  And then, a shot rang out, and Wendy crumpled.

  I looked up at the circular platform I’d created to keep my friends safe and saw Aaron grinning down at me, giving me a cheeky, confident wave. “I followed the tiger!” he called out to me.

  “Not a bad plan!” I called back—though I didn’t celebrate with him until I’d made sure to double-check that Wendy was truly dead and healing. Even then, I first rushed over to Theresa and Tony before I could think about relaxing.

  Tony looked harried, holding Theresa’s hand as he waited for her to wake up. His head came up fast when he saw someone headed their way, but when he recognized me, he relaxed and gestured down at Theresa. “I’ve got her,” he said.

  “I know,” I said, but I knelt down with them anyway and grabbed Theresa’s wrist. “She’s got a pulse.”

  Tony nodded. “That started up right before you came over,” he said. He was running his thumb absently over the knuckles on Theresa’s other hand, and he looked so upset that I had to put my hand on his shoulder and give him a gentle squeeze.

  “She’s fine.”

  “Yeah, but what about the rest of the village?” Tony asked.

  I frowned. “I . . . I don’t know,” I had to admit.

  Tony shook his head and looked back down at Theresa, gently brushing her hair back from her face. “If you’d have told me, I’d have helped you,” he told Theresa gently, though she wasn’t awake yet to hear it. “I know how important they are to you.”

  Despite everything, I couldn’t help but smile when I heard it. Maybe there was hope for Tony to get his act together after all.

  “As soon as we take care of these guys, we’ll find the rest of the village,” I promised Tony, getting to my feet and brushing my knees off.

  Tony nodded, though before he could respond, Theresa let out a soft groan, and his entire focus snapped to her. “Hey,” he said in what had to be the gentlest tone I’d ever heard from anyone—including Andrew and Elaine. “Welcome back.”

  Theresa was still obviously groggy as she woke up. (I could relate; dying was really terrible to come back from, and waking up and trying to piece together what I’d been doing before a fatal injury like that always felt like an uphill climb.) But when she heard Tony, she smiled and reached up, resting her hand against his cheek. “Hello,” she said.

  “If you wanted my attention, you really didn’t have to fight a Family member,” Tony said with a quiet smirk. “I’m already in love with you.”

  “Still?”

  “Yeah.”

  I quietly backed away f
rom the scene as Tony helped Theresa to her feet. I didn’t want to interfere—anymore—not when they seemed to have the situation well in hand. At least they were talking again, and I doubted they could walk away from each other as easily as they almost had before.

  If they tried to break up again, though, then I’d step in. I wasn’t going to assume that they’d both keep their heads just because they had a moment in the middle of a battle.

  You’re such a romantic, Michelle, Lila teased.

  Oh, and you’re not?

  I definitely am. I think I got some of that from you. I mean, I’m still learning to be my own person, and you seem to take special delight in making people happy. Maybe I’m picking up personality traits from your mind.

  I can’t help that I want my friends happy.

  Neither can I, apparently.

  I smiled as I got to my feet and then turned on my heel—only to find that Wendy was picking herself up again, looking positively venomous as she glared my way.

  And, as always seemed to happen when I was running on too much adrenaline, my mouth moved faster than my brain in its ongoing bid to get me in trouble. “Go again?” I asked, already settling into a fighting stance now that the challenge was out there.

  Wendy’s glare turned into a malicious smile, and she shook her head slowly. “I thought you were close to my brother,” she said. “Didn’t he teach you better than to fight his family?”

  “I think Andrew’s too full of himself sometimes,” I said easily. “Looks like a family trait.”

  Wendy’s smile dropped away. “You know nothing about my family.”

  “Oh yeah?” I bared my teeth at her as I caught movement farther out from our position, though I kept my expression the same. “I know you guys like to talk. I know you have big egos. And. . . .”

  As I was drawing myself up for that last point, Andrew made his rush, breaking through Wendy’s shield while she was distracted and bashing into her hard enough to send her sprawling before he grabbed her arm and threw an elbow into the side of her head, knocking her unconscious.

  I grinned up at Andrew. “And,” I said, “I know I can always rely on Andrew to have my back.”

  Chapter 15: Falling in Love Isn’t a Bad Thing

  With the Royalists down for the count—either dead, unconscious, or hiding—my friends and I could breathe long enough to regroup. Rather than pull the platform down, I brought us all up so that we had a bird’s eye view of the forest around us while we planned our next steps and healed from the battle.

  Elaine re-braided her hair, sitting cross-legged at the edge of the platform. Aaron and Izzy checked each other’s weapons and complimented each other on their shooting skills. And Theresa rushed over to Tara to pull her into a tight hug, fussing over her as only a big sister could do as she checked to make sure Tara wasn’t hurt.

  Which left Tony to stand between Andrew and Theresa (very bravely) as Andrew stalked toward Theresa, clearly meaning to start a fight.

  “What were you thinking?” Andrew demanded at the same time Tony said, “Back off.”

  “Andrew, you’re going after the wrong person,” I put in, rushing over to stand beside Tony, my back to the two sisters on the platform. Before I was completely positioned, I could see Theresa drawing herself up out of the corner of my eye, ready for a fight—but I would much rather avoid one and focus on the real problem at hand.

  “You heard what happened. She sold us out,” Andrew said angrily. “And how did Wendy get loose, huh?” He glared past me at Theresa. “Don’t tell me that was a coincidence. Elaine had her too well restrained for her to have gotten out on her own that quickly.”

  “They anticipated our retreat and corralled my kids and grandkids,” Theresa said, getting to her feet with her eyes flashing. “Tell me I was wrong for protecting my family. Tell me you wouldn’t do the same for yours.”

  “No, I wouldn’t!” Andrew shot back.

  “Yeah, wrong family,” I said Theresa’s way before I put a hand on Andrew’s arm, drawing his attention. “But you would do the same thing for Elaine,” I said in an even tone, holding his gaze until he dropped it. “You know I’m right.”

  Andrew let out a noise that said he still wanted to argue, but he dropped his aggressive posture all the same and simply pointed at Theresa. “You could have told us,” he said.

  “With your sister listening in?” Theresa pointed out. “Besides, you saw what they were after. They want you, and they want my sister. I could only save so many people, and I chose to save the ones that can’t stand up for themselves as well as you can.”

  “We are going to save your family,” I told Theresa, though I made sure to glare at Elaine and Andrew in turn so they knew I wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer.

  “Of course we are,” Elaine said, as if the very idea that she’d consider anything else was abhorrent to her. She looked toward Theresa and softened her expression. “They wouldn’t be in any trouble in the first place if we hadn’t come here. The least we can do is help you get them out of trouble again.”

  “Thanks,” Theresa said shortly, though she was still standing partly in front of Tara. I don’t think she even realized she was doing it; she was probably acting on instinct, the way I had automatically moved in front of Aaron and Izzy as soon as the fight broke out.

  “Do you know where they are?” Andrew asked, his tone more businesslike than before—which I appreciated. That shift meant he was moving past anger into something more productive.

  Theresa shook her head. “I only have an idea.”

  “We’ll find them,” Elaine said, drawing herself up. “I’m not half bad at tracking spells.”

  “Oh yeah,” I said with a nod. “She dragged me through half the Bermuda Triangle looking for Andrew the first time we went on a mission together.”

  “Hopefully, this time, it won’t involve boat hopping,” Elaine said.

  “If we could never, ever do that again, that would be very much appreciated,” I said, making a face.

  “I’m not entirely sure I want to know,” Theresa said, shaking her head at both of us before she straightened up. “I can give you a basic direction; I know where they were headed when they were routed.”

  Elaine nodded, and the two of them put their heads together. A few minutes later, they had a heading, and the rest of the group followed Elaine—with me and Andrew taking up the rear, carrying Wendy between us. As we walked, I put the platform of the ground back where it had come from, and I did what I could to heal the forest, even though we were in a hurry and paying more attention to Wendy than the trees.

  Wendy was suspended with her hands tied behind her back and a glare on her face that I’d seen both times I’d been held hostage with Andrew. I wondered if that expression was genetic or if the Family had trained them in a certain look in case of capture.

  Probably both.

  “You’re trying to postpone the inevitable, you know,” Wendy said, her glare locked solidly on Andrew, who seemed to be doing his level best to ignore her. “You’ll be dragged back to Dad all the same. You’re making it worse the longer you rebel.”

  “Nice try, Wen, but I’m not coming back with you,” Andrew said without even looking her way. “You and I both know how that’ll go.”

  Wendy shook her head. “I don’t understand you,” she said. “You know what you’re supposed to do. You know you’re going to get yourself killed or force Jordan to re-train you.” She looked up at Andrew more intently, and I thought I could see honest concern in her gaze. “You don’t want him to do that. I know you don’t.”

  “He’s not going to get the chance,” Andrew said, though I could see the way he bristled and knew he didn’t quite believe that. I’d seen what happened to him the last time he crossed paths with Jordan, and it had not been pretty. I didn’t blame him for being antsy about it.

  “Andy.” Wendy’s tone was perfectly patient. “Don’t be so naïve.”

  “At least he isn’t
mindless,” I said when Andrew simply seemed to lock his jaw and do his level best to ignore the jab from his older sister. Someone had to stand up for him, and if he wouldn’t, I would.

  Wendy rolled her eyes at me for the comment. “You’ve got no business talking about being mindless,” she said. “Or are you so short-sighted that you’ve already forgotten how easily you can be shut down?”

  Like Andrew, I bristled at the verbal blow. “At least I didn’t roll over for my father,” I shot back angrily. “He had to force his way into my mind and destroy my identity. You’re letting your father walk all over you and your little brother, and you don’t even see what a puppet that makes you.”

  Wendy straightened up, all glares and indignation. “I’m actually loyal to my family, which is more than I can say for you!’

  “Then you don’t understand family, either, and I feel sorry for you,” I said without missing a beat. When Wendy let out a scoffing noise, I shook my head slowly. “You think you have to be born into family, that blood determines destiny. But I’ve had my own family for a while now. They adopted me, and I took care of them for generations. It’s a relationship based on trust and love, not fear and demanded obedience.”

  Wendy sneered. “You’re so naïve—”

  “No.” I looked Wendy straight in the eyes. “I’m much older than you are. I’ve seen my family live and die. I’ve watched them fall in love; I’ve watched them go to war; and I’ve watched them come together for every tragedy as well as every triumph.”

  “Human nonsense,” Wendy scoffed.

  “Is it?” I raised an eyebrow at her. “If it’s just humans that care for their families, then I don’t want to honor the witch side of my heritage.”

  “That’s an oversimplification,” Andrew said, breaking into my steady stream of ranting from my soap box.

  “Maybe,” I said, looking past Wendy to meet his gaze. “But you have to admit: so far, I’ve seen more familial loyalty from my human family than I’ve seen since I joined the Rendezvous. My father—”

  “Your family isn’t exactly a framework for healthy relationships,” Andrew said. “You can’t generalize from that.”