Of course all of my fears of that bow and its arrows surfaced. Fears this thing would turn and fire it at Crwys. I just knew the Harpy was one of Lethe's little minions and planned on taking Crwys out of the picture, weakening him and killing me.
But Crwys didn't move away from it. He flew toward it as I realized she was pointing the cocked arrow at Lethe. And as we got closer, my eyes widened as I took in the body of a bird, but this Harpy had arms in addition to wings, and the head of a human….
"That's…" Crwys began.
"Mom!" I shouted. That was my mom's head on that body! What was going on?
"Elizabeth!" Crwys shouted. "What are you doing?"
"Get her to safety, Azazel," my mom yelled back, but she didn't look at us. I took in her profile, the mane of dark feathers where her hair had once been. The powerful dark wings and the rounded lower body with its large taloned feet.
"You can't be that stupid," Lethe said with her arms out. "That arrow… He's tried to use them before. But they don't work on me. They were made for Azazel."
I watched my mother smile. "Not this one." And she let the arrow go.
It sailed like a comet away from Mom directly into Lethe's path and struck her in the chest. I think up until the moment it embedded in her chest, she believed it wouldn't hurt her.
She was wrong.
Thunder clapped around us when it struck and Lethe bent in on herself. Her body twisted and turned in midair until my ears popped at the silent release of whatever spell kept her human.
I screamed when I saw her unfold from her tiny human form and take on the larger than rocket form of a Dragon.
"Mom! Get out of the way!" I screamed as I tried to get out of Crwys's arms.
"Stop it, Sam, or you'll fall!"
Lethe screamed in her Dragon roar as she revealed herself, and I recognized the form as one of the Dragons I'd seen in that vision. One of the priestesses of Hera, the destroyers of Atlantis.
Aqua and blue scales glistened in the dark sky, illuminated by the blood moon overhead. She flailed and backpedaled those wings as she tried to take the arrow out of her chest, but I could see it there, festering as whatever magic made it sought to destroy the Dragon.
My mom backpedaled as well to get out of the way, but not fast enough as a wing caught her with an audible crack. She spun in the air and dropped into the miasma below.
"Mom!"
"Sam—"
I kicked and hit at him he held me. I called my Sylph to take me out of his arms. Zephryos appeared and lifted me up as I pushed at Crwys. "Go get my mom!"
"Sam—"
"Now!"
He looked at me and then down, but in the end, he dove down into the clouds and disappeared.
I turned to face the reeling Dragon. "Arcane."
-Yes?-
"Let's kick this Dragon's ass."
-I thought you'd never ask.-
I released control to the Arcane and it felt…exhilarating. I kept seeing my mom fall, but I couldn't think about that now. Crwys would save her, and then she'd explain to me why she was a Harpy. Then we'd go home and sleep.
Right now…it was killing time.
I didn't need my Sylph to stay in the air as my Arcane bolstered me on the winds. I felt my hair flying around me as red, glittery power surrounded me and tingled at my fingertips.
Arcane shot off a couple of shots of that power at the Dragon. They circled around her, then lit her up like a roman candle as it exploded on her scales, her wings, and her tail. When the smoke cleared she had chunks of her taken out, no tail, and pieces of her wings burned away.
"Stop!" she screamed at me.
"Stop?" I laughed and my voice echoed in the sky. "You would have killed me, taken Crwys, and gone on to make his life a living hell. I will never stop, Lethe. You, who were once a priestess and are now nothing but sad excuse for the gift the God Mother gave you!"
The sky overhead rumbled as lightning came down. It struck the miasma and within seconds it dispersed as if it never existed.
Lethe screamed again as I came in closer. I could see the arrow now and it was turning the scales and flesh around it to stone. With every blast of Arcane destruction I threw at her, more of her broke off as her body began disintegrating.
And then she did something I didn't expect.
She laughed. It wasn't an audible sound, but one in my head. As the Dragon of Dreams, it seemed appropriate.
"Why are you laughing? I'm what you feared, Lethe. I'm the Witch that can destroy you, and Crwys will never miss you."
But you will never forget me. Her voice was silky smooth in my mind.
I felt something tickle my bare foot and I looked down to see Dharma's Waters touching me. Sam!
Something was wrong.
Lethe roared to my right and I ducked a weak attempt at an attack. My Arcane threw another debilitating ball of red magic at her and it covered her middle, then exploded out. She roared again and I thought she would fall. Instead, she twisted and coiled and actually started flying away from me.
"Oh no you don't!"
Sam! Please! Dharma pleaded.
I hesitated and finally eased back to the Earth, straight down into the back yard of Ina's house. Before I landed, I could everyone in a circle and in the center was Mom. She wasn't a Harpy anymore, but a human. I ran to her, shoving people out of my way. She was on her back, bleeding from her nose and mouth. Her legs and one arm were at an odd angle, and she was staring up at the sky. "Mom!'
Crwys put his hand on mine. "Don't jostle her or you'll hurt her more!"
I turned and glared at him; aware I hadn't dismissed my Arcane, which was probably apparently in my eyes. "I told you to catch her."
"I tried, Sam. But I wasn't fast enough."
"Sam, he really did," Dharma said, and I realized she had her hand on Mom's arm.
I knocked it away and got up as close as I could. "Mom? Change back to a wolf, okay?" I kissed her cheek. It was cold. "That works, doesn't it?"
"Sam—"
"Shut up!" I yelled even though I didn't know who'd spoken. I put my hand on her head. "Mom? Can you hear me?"
"She's leaving us, child," Papa Dumaine said.
I ignored them all.
"Sam," Ivan said. "I have to tell you—"
"Just shut up!" I yelled at him. "This is my mother! How could you have given her that bow and arrow? I trusted you!" I knew the moment I'd said it…I'd hurt Ivan.
Ivan got down on his knees on the opposite side of Mom and ripped his jacket off, then his shirt. He turned his arm to me and I saw a bloodied circle on his upper arm. "She already had it in her hand when she scratched me with it. At that moment I was compelled to rez the bow. I didn't do it to hurt you!"
She already had the arrow? I looked at the scratch. A perfect circle.
A circle.
The Faeries! She'd been with them before and they'd kept her young. The Faeries could help her now! I used my Sylph to push Ivan back, to push them all back, and not gently, before I threw myself on top of my mother and teleported she and I to the one place I hoped could heal her.
THIRTY
I didn't have that same sickening, overwhelming nauseated feeling caused by the first teleport when I opened my eyes this time. I wasn't in the cabin either, but outside of it, yards from the Cairn where I'd talked to the denizens of Faerie many times. I only hoped I wasn't too late this time.
Mom was beside me, still unmoving. Her eyes weren't open anymore, and I couldn't tell if she was breathing. I felt my Arcane hammering me with questions, but I wouldn't let her leave me, not yet. I stood in the dark and looked for a way to get Mom into the center of the Circle. I knew if I moved her, I'd hurt her. Panic set in. I did have nausea, but not because I'd crossed space to get here from Ina's. Because I had a gnawing, aching thought in the back of my head. A thought I didn't want to open.
"Chérie?"
I spun at the voice and realized with my Arcane-enhanced senses I wasn't alone. The Aces w
ere there in the dark, surrounding me. Bastien appeared out of the dark and stopped in front of me. When he saw Mom, he immediately went down on his knees. "Mon dieu! What happened? This…this is Grey?"
"I can't explain it right now. I just need to get her to the Circle."
"Chérie, let me help you."
"No! Don't touch her!" I knocked his hands away and stood over my mom as the wolves appeared out of the darkness. A light on a pole all of a sudden illuminated the area, something I assumed Arden had installed. Moisture filled the air again, and I knew it was going to rain soon.
"Sam," Ben said as he stepped forward. "We're here because we were told to be here. Let us help you. Please?"
Told to be here? What…what did that mean? I was shaking now, and I didn't know if it was because of my teleport or the fact my Arcane was still in possession. Or was she…I felt like I was in control, but I felt her power. Was I…controlling her?
I looked at each of them and finally down at Bastien. "Can…can you pick her up without causing any pain?"
"I can try."
I nodded and stood back as he gently lifted her in his arms. She didn't make a sound as he carried her into the Circle and I motioned for everyone else to stand back. Bastien set her down the ground to the right of the fire pit. I used Fire to ignite the logs set inside of it—who had prepared for the fire? Didn't matter. I had to get to the Faeries. I had to beg them to help Mom. Turn her back into a wolf. Make her a Hunt animal again.
My Elementals all appeared and took up their positions in the Circle. My Sylph was the biggest of them in size and bowed to me as I cut the Circle with nothing more than my imagination. Bastien remained in the Circle with me as I unveiled the six-foot mirror Arden kept tucked to the side. Within seconds, the surface wavered and a thick white mist flowed out of it to cover the ground. I watched as it nearly swallowed Mom up.
"Sam?" came a tentative voice.
I looked in the mirror and saw Medbh. She was no longer a Kachina doll, but restored to her previous form. To anyone looking, she would look like a dark-haired teenager with pale white skin. The tips of her long, pointed ears stuck up through her hair. Her lips were ruby red to match the dress she wore. She stepped through the mirror and tentatively put her foot on the mist-covered ground. "What's wrong? It's been so long since I heard from you and—" Medbh had been looking around and her gaze fell on my mom. "Oh no…"
"I brought her here…you know…thinking you could do something?" I was wringing my hands as I watched Medbh kneel beside my mom.
"What…what broke her so badly?"
"A…a Dragon did."
She turned at her waist and looked up at me. I knew what her eyes were asking and I shook my head. "Not him. Another one. A female."
Medbh put her hand on Mom's forehead and then on her heart. I saw the Faerie's hand glow red and my own Arcane sighed at the use of the same magic. I looked at Bastien, who was watching me. I knelt down on the other side of Mom and watched Medbh's face. It didn't help. Her blank expression told me nothing.
Then…
"Elizabeth…isn't here."
I blinked. "What?"
Medbh opened her eyes and sat back, her red dress pillowing out around her. She finally pinned me with her gaze. "Your mother isn't here."
"I don't…"
I heard someone behind me. I knew it was Bastien.
"Sam," Medbh said and swallowed, obviously not wanting to look at me as she stared at my mom. "I can't raise the dead. And if I tried, what would awaken wouldn't be her. She's already gone."
"No," I said as I shook my head. This just wasn't happening to me. No…it couldn't happen. I just got my mother back! "No, this isn't right. She was one of your Hunt animals. She was immortal—"
"She gave that up," Medbh said and reached out to touch my hand, but I pulled away. "I'm sure she did it for you. Be happy, Sam, she's finally at peace."
"No." Now I really was shaking as my stomach twisted into a Gordian knot. I grabbed at Medbh's arm and stared at her, wide eyed. "No, you have to bring her back."
"Sam—"
"You made her immortal."
I felt Bastien's warm hand on my shoulder. "Chérie—"
I wrenched away from him, but he held on firmer. "Please…" I was ashamed at the sound of my voice. I sounded, and felt, eight years old again when my dad came into my room and said my mother was gone. That it was just he and I now. "Please…no…" My eyes burned as Bastien's arms moved around me from behind and he pulled me into his chest. "I just got her back…" I blinked several times as the world blurred. "It's not fair…"
"I am so sorry, chérie," Bastien said, and the pack link opened up in my mind. I turned and buried my face in Bastien's chest as my sorrow was amplified as one by one, the wolves raised their voices and howled as the rain fell.
Epilogue
On a cool, crisp September morning, Crwys stepped inside of Bell, Book and Candle ahead of Levi. Kyle waved to them from the right where he was engaged with a customer. Ivan sat behind the counter in front of the computer and nodded when he looked up. "Morn'n."
"How's business?" Levi said as he approached the counter and bent down to look at Ivan's new beta fish. She was white with gray markings on her. Ivan had named her Grey.
"It's holding, but school's starting back this month which means fewer impulse buyers out and about, and we're hoping the temperature cools down soon. Dharma's ready to buy a house with central air."
"You know you're always welcome to the Devonshire place," Crwys said as he joined Levi at the counter.
"You should talk to Kyle about that. I think he and Jack are in the market and I'm just…I don't think I could live there, you know?"
Yes. Crwys did know. He'd had the place repaired again, for the third time, and had put it on the market before it got blown up again. Two weeks on the market and no takers, even though he was selling far below market value for the Garden District. "I'll talk to him later about it."
An awkward silence crept in until the customer left and Kyle joined them at the front counter where the dark-haired Witch retrieved a map of the United States. Levi moved the fish bowl as Kyle spread it out on the surface. The map was covered in red and green marks, as well as a few black ones.
"Cosgrove still keeping up appearances?" Crwys asked.
Kyle nodded as he pulled a silver chain attached to a blue stone out of his back pocket and held it over the map. The stone swung back and forth for a few seconds as he answered. "If you mean keeping up the ruse that Sam's Arcane killed her? Yeah. But don't you already know that? He's your Chief of Detectives."
"We haven't seen much of him," Levi volunteered. "He's not our captain. Prescott interacts him more than we do."
"How's she been?" Ivan said.
Crwys shrugged. "Happy I guess? She thinks her number one grifter and hoodwinker is out of the Quarter. I really don't care. Cosgrove's left me alone. I think he's pretty sure I'm not going to burn down the city."
The stone suddenly veered to the West on the map. Kyle pointed to a mark in New Mexico. "This was the place I divined last night. Sante Fe."
"What time?" Crwys said as he took out his phone and tapped in the city and state.
"It was at about eleven last night. So…if we base it on the other divinations, I'm betting she'll be gone in another twenty-four hours."
Crwys nodded and checked his messages for the tenth time that day. He figured he was doing pretty good, given a month ago he checked his messages over a thousand times an hour.
Ivan pursed his lips. "Still not going after her?"
"Nope."
"You two know this isn't my idea, right? I was ready for a road trip over a month ago." Levi said.
"Yeah, we know." Kyle refolded the map and set it under the counter. "Thirty-two places she's been since she left. I've given you every one of them, you put them in your phone, but you've never gone after her."
"If she needs me…" or wants me, "she'll call me." Crwys gave them bo
th a lame smile. "Look…she took off on her own. If she has a death wish to hunt Lethe down, more power to her."
"You really feel that way?" Kyle said. "You're just mad that she left with Bastien."
Crwys took a step back. "We're done here. Thanks, Kyle."
"Wait just a minute," Kyle said as he came around the counter. "Come on…you still love her. And I'm sure she still loves you, even if she is a bit obsessed."
"She's hunting a Dragon," Levi said. "That's more than a bit obsessed. That's bat-shit crazy."
"And she's still allowing her Arcane to share control," Crwys said, remembering her red eyes that night. The red eyes that remained there until Samantha took off two days after burying her mom to kill the Dragon that killed Elizabeth. Lethe wasn't going to survive, he was sure of that. Not after what he saw that arrow do to her. He was all too familiar with the power of Artemis's work. What concerned him was where Elizabeth had gotten the arrow. No one seemed to know, least of all Ivan, whom Elizabeth ordered to give her the bow. He still bore the scar of that scratch she'd given him with the arrow's tip. Whatever secrets there were died with Elizabeth Hawthorne.
"Just so you know," Kyle said. "Ivan and I are gonna go find her and bring her home."
"Oh?"
"We're shutting the store down for a few weeks at the end of this month, if she's not back yet," Ivan said.
"Well, that's your choice. Call me if you run into trouble." He turned and headed to the door.
"Come with us!" Kyle said.
But Crwys kept walking, left the shop, and unlocked his Mustang. Levi came out a few minutes later, after Crwys was buckled up and the car was cranked. Levi buckled up too and stared at him. "If you're going to say something, say it."
"I just can't believe you're giving up like this. I thought Sam was the love your life? Your soul mate. So yeah, she's running on hatred and after revenge."
Elemental Storm (The Eldritch Files Book 6) Page 24