by Leia Stone
“What? It’s cold out,” I told him. Oregon was freaking cold in the winter, and today was no exception.
“How can the Earth work with you, when you shut her out?” His voice was so sweet and endearing. He was like the father I never had, someone I wanted to please.
Ugh. Fine.
I quickly stepped out of my boots and socks onto the cold, damp earth, feeling that familiar buzz run through me. Now he was wearing a smile.
“That’s better, isn’t it!” he said cheerily, casting those honey-colored eyes at me.
I had to admit, it was better. I’d gone full hippie. I was like a plant and the bare earth was my food and water. Without further ceremony, Isaac threw open the gate. The pack split up, some fanning out to the sides of the house, some staying in the front yard. Eva, Isaac, Logan, Keegan, and I made our way to the back. It smelled of … burned wood and something salty.
My hand was so tightly gripped around my pistol, I was afraid I’d shoot it off if I didn’t relax. A noise from the roof caused me to turn and aim my weapon, only to see Dom wave at me with at least four guns in his hands and strapped around his thighs. Glad to see he was all healed and feeling trigger-happy again.
I surveyed the yard. Other than a few strewn sticks and one toppled globe, not much looked amiss. Isaac walked right over to the bench where the elf had stood and picked up the piece of fallen paper.
As soon as he read it, he grinned.
I peeked over his shoulder. Seven Sisters, it read.
“Who’s Seven Sisters?” I asked. He clearly knew what this meant. I, however, was clueless.
Isaac tucked it into his pocket. “As I thought, he sent us a message where to find your wand and maybe him. If he’s still alive.”
My heart picked up. “Where?”
Isaac’s posture changed as he got into teacher mode; he leaned forward and whispered as if he was afraid someone might hear. “The Seven Sisters Oak is the largest oak tree on record. It’s fifteen hundred years old, and it’s in Mandeville, Louisiana.”
“So we’re going to Louisiana?” I asked. I’d never been south. Sounded kinda fun actually.
“Incoming!” Dominic screamed from the roof and Eva threw her hands out. Yellow magic blasted past me as Eva erected a yellow geometric bubble around us. Spinning around, my stomach sank as I saw druids pouring over the back of Griddish’s fence. They must have been hiding in the house directly behind the reclusive elf’s property. Dammit!
Isaac’s nostrils flared in anger; he tightened his grip on his staff. “Sloane, don’t use your magic,” my druid master told me. “Not until we get the staff. It’s too dangerous unanchored.”
I nodded, noticing Logan’s brows pinch in concern. Beside me, Logan peeled off his shirt and my head reeled back. “What are you doing?”
He shrugged. “Shifting. They already know what we are. I might as well breathe fire over all of their asses.”
Okay, that was hot. Logan was in warrior mode. I pulled the Ruger at eye level and prepared for the fight.
Danny and the rest of the pack had run in from the front yard, and were fighting the druids head-on. It all happened so fast. From when Dom had screamed and Eva thrown up her protection bubble to now, only half a minute had passed.
“I can’t hold it much longer,” Eva said, and I saw the sweat on her upper lip. The yellow magical dome around us flickered, as red balls of druid fury crashed into it. Logan was nearly fully shifted. Keegan was shifting as well. Isaac’s staff was pulsing, and I had my Ruger out and ready to rock and roll. These assholes were going to die today.
“Drop it!” Isaac shouted to Eva. The shield flickered off just as Isaac slammed his staff into the ground and a ten foot sinkhole opened up in the back yard, swallowing half a dozen druids into it. My jaw went slack.
“Holy shit! You could do that this whole time!” I screamed.
“When the Earth is willing,” he answered cryptically, but there was no time for talking. A very large cat’s growl from the roof told me Dom was in his other form, preying over the top of us, deciding who to pounce on.
Don’t pick me.
Isaac’s sinkhole left about six to eight more druids to deal with, one of whom I could see was Steven, the large Irish man that I had come to loathe. He pointed right at me.
“Don’t hurt her. Kill the rest,” he commanded. Fear and fury crashed through me in equal measure. He didn’t want me dead now? I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that, and neither did Logan. He roared so loudly that the ground shook. His massive black dragon stood before me like a guard.
Chaos broke out in Griddish’s beautiful back yard. Magic was thrown left and right; gunshots rang out, and animals growled and roared. My eyes were on my mate and anyone who dared step near him. My dragon was in heat, and if they hurt a scale on his hide I would eviscerate them all.
Logan poured fire onto the advancing enemy, but these weren’t powerless hunters. They were full-fledged druids. They had shields and red fireballs that caused awful injuries. I just prayed we were all making it out of this one alive.
I’d kept Steven in the corner of my gaze. So when he blinked out of existence, I spun around, ready for him, afraid to give my back to anyone. Just as I thought, he reappeared right before me, intending to take me from behind. Coward.
“Sloane darling, it’s been too long,” he cooed. His size alone was menacing, but knowing he could freaking teleport scared me to my core. He was like a ghost. A ghost who could kill me.
“Fuck off and die,” I told him as I pulled the trigger on my gun, aiming for his throat. He blinked out of existence again before my bullet could make its mark. When he reappeared it was nearly on top of me.
He was so close that my gun arm crumpled as he wrestled it out of my hands. Maybe before I would have waited to see what he was going to do, or for one of the pack to save me, but not now—not after Sophie’s training. I thrust my knee forward into his balls and jumped up high to wedge it in there really good.
He fell forward with a grunt, dropping my gun, and wrapped his arms around my legs so that I couldn’t run. It was an awkward position, but I started beating on his back with my fists in the hopes he would let go. My hands came down in powerful punches on his ribs, but he held firm. Everything was going great until he yanked my ankles and I went down so hard and fast on my back that the wind knocked out of me; my head cracked on the lawn. Black stars exploded in front of my vision as I felt him climb on top of me.
Use everything you have. Never give up. The memory of Sophie’s words of wisdom came to me then.
“You are a very special girl,” he breathed in my ear. Fear saturated my entire body. Having an unwelcome man lie on top of you and call you a girl was creepy as all hell, and my dragon wasn’t having it.
She bucked against my skin like it was a cage, rattling my bones. Isaac said not to use my power, but the way his hips were unwantedly pressing into my stomach made my fear turn into boiling rage. My vision cleared from the fall and I could see him clearly, staring down at me like I was a treasure to be locked away.
“You’re coming with me,” he said, then suddenly his hands locked down on my arms, vise-like.
Oh. Hell. No.
Could he teleport me somewhere with him? Away from Logan and the pack?
I didn’t think, I just reacted. My magic had been coiled and wound tight like a snake waiting to strike, and strike she did. I didn’t lash out in any specific manner so much as I just … exploded with purple fire. It came out of my every pore and laced around Steven with one intent—burn him to a crisp.
The shriek that came from him before he poofed out of existence was so satisfying it almost made me not even think about the ear-splitting headache that was rocking my world. Almost. The purple magic was pouring out of me. Now that Steven was gone I tried to stop it … but I couldn’t.
‘Sloane!’ Logan yelled, sounding pained; his voice inside my head only increased my agony. I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t se
e anything!
“I can’t stop it!” I shrieked to the darkness, feeling like I might drown in purple fire and this stabbing head pain. Suddenly, my vision began to clear and I could see blurry shapes.
Isaac was standing over me, one hand on his staff, the other on his manhood. He took one look at me and raised his staff.
“Sorry,” he said, and the blunt edge of his staff came down hard on my temple, knocking me clean out.
Chapter 10
When I came to, I was assaulted with the smell of paint. My head felt like it had been split open. The throbbing was brutal. It would throb twice, then give me a slicing sharp jab for good measure.
I groaned, opening my eyes.
“Sloane!” Logan was bent down, peering into the bunk at me. I was on the bus … we were driving. I could see from the shafts of natural light that fell on my face that it was daylight. My mouth felt so dry I could barely peel my lips apart to speak.
“Where are we?” It all came back to me then. Griddish’s backyard, the piece of paper … Steven. That mofo better be dead.
Logan stroked my forehead and handed me a bottle of water. “We’re on the border of Texas and Louisiana. You’ve been out for a day and a half.
A day and a half? Oh my God. My stomach growled. “What happened? Is everyone okay?”
Sophie popped her head and her boobs into my bunk and stared down at me. “You nearly killed all of us, and then Isaac had to knock you out. But yeah, we’re all okay.”
“Sophie!” Logan scolded.
Shit. I remembered now, the purple magic … it had poured out of me and I couldn’t turn it off.
“But...” Sophie held up a finger. “When that nasty druid had you pinned like that…” A look of pride showed on her face and I gave a slight grin.
“Did you see me knee him in the balls?” I croaked. She nodded, giving me a high five.
Logan ignored us both. “Isaac had to do a tree healing on you, and even then you didn’t wake up. He said the only thing we could do is get your staff. Without it, you can’t use your power unless you want to have serious repercussions.”
Not exactly rosy news.
I nodded. “I didn’t want to use it, but he was on me, his hips pressing into me…” I couldn’t finish, because Logan snarled and took my face in his hands, his green eyes flaring to slits.
“You did good, Sloane. If he’s not already dead, I’m going to kill him, slowly.”
A shadow crossed over Logan, then Isaac kneeled down to meet my eyes. “The second that staff is in your hands, we begin your training. You can no longer afford to go without it.”
I nodded. I wasn’t in control, not even a little bit. Something struck me then.
“Isaac, if my mother was a fire druid, how did she control her power without a staff? I never saw her with one?”
Isaac shrugged. “From what I gather, your mother gave up on her power when she had you. She might have destroyed the staff or had another power object of some kind. A dagger or an amulet.”
I gasped at the memory of her necklace. “She had this red ruby necklace. It was ungodly huge for how poor we were, and she never took it off or tried to sell it.”
He shrugged as if to say “I told you so.”
“So why am I going to carry around a five-foot-tall staff when I could just get a cool necklace?” I asked.
Because, ya know, I wasn’t too crazy about heading to Starbucks, with Logan and the pack, and my big old Gandalf staff.
Isaac gave me a toothy grin. “Your mother was clearly a druid from the old world. In Faery, we had access to the queen’s finest elves. They crafted objects of great power for the earth druids to anchor our magic with Mother Earth. Your mother probably got hers from an amulet-making elf. Yalash and Griddish do not specialize in amulets.”
Oh. Damn.
“What did you do with the amulet?” Isaac asked, no doubt curious what it looked like.
I sighed. “I buried her with it. She never took it off, not in the pool, not for chemo. Never. It only felt right that it stay with her.”
Logan reached out and grasped my hand, and Isaac nodded in understanding. “Doesn’t matter now. You’ll have your staff, made especially for you, connected to the very heart of Mother Gaia.”
I gave him a weak smile and my belly growled again. “Hungry?” Nadine popped her head into my bunk, shoving Sophie out of the way. In her hands was a plate with an egg burrito and side of bacon. She set it before me and my mouth salivated at the smell.
“Starved,” I told her, and she grinned. Like a weird maniacal grin.
“What?”
She was bouncing on her toes a little. “I taught Hemlock some tricks. Wanna see?”
This time it was my turn to smile. I slowly went to sit up, ignoring the throbbing in my head, and then frowned when I felt something … wet and sandy at my feet.
“What the hell is that?” I asked, just then noticing that my feet were buried in two flower pots.
“I wanted to strip you naked and have you sleep on the grass until you healed,” Isaac interjected, “but the pack insisted we head to get your staff, so this was the next best thing.”
Yeah, sleeping naked for a day and a half out in the open was not cool with me.
Danny’s head peeked down from the top bunk. He’d been there the whole time. “I told him I think it’s going to be the latest fashion trend. I want a pair of potted lavender shoes.”
I chuckled and looked at Isaac. “Can I take them out?”
He scrutinized me. “How do you feel?”
My head was still throbbing but I didn’t want to bring it up. It was probably just from that noxious paint smell. “I’m fine. What is that smell?”
Nadine grinned. “We were worried the yellow bus was attracting the druids, so Gear and I gave it a makeover.”
I felt my eyes widen. No doubt it was now covered in skulls or something equally sinister. Without waiting for Isaac to confirm I could in fact unplant my feet, I slowly pulled them from the potted plants. The second my left foot left the soil, my headache increased and I winced.
Logan noticed. “Sloane?”
I sighed, keeping my right foot firmly in the pot. “Alright, I have a monster headache.”
At that admission, Isaac was kneeling in front of me, looking me over. “You exerted too much from your physical body, Sloane. You must learn to take from Mother Earth.”
I sighed. “It’s not like I mean to. It just … explodes out of me.”
Isaac nodded. “Yes. Next time, less impulsive explosion and more focused direction with support of Mother Nature.”
He might as well be speaking Chinese, but I decided not replying was best. He gingerly took my unpotted foot and lifted it up, sticking it back in the planter. The moment my foot hit the cool dirt, the headache eased.
“Better?” he asked.
It was better. Which was freaky as all hell. I had become a plant … I nodded.
He sighed. “When we get to the Seven Sisters tree, you will need to take some time to heal in her energy.”
Of course I would. I was a plant.
Hemlock squeezed through Nadine and Logan and set his head on my knee, looking up at me with doe eyes.
“Were you a good boy while I was asleep?” I asked, rubbing behind his ear.
Nadine nodded. “Sophie and Roxy are following us in your car. Hemlock and Mittens refused to leave your side.”
At that, Mittens mewed from somewhere in my bunk. I had to peel back a few covers to find her wedged at my hip. When I saw her, I smiled, pulling her close to my chest.
Danny popped his head down again. “You would make such a cool Disney princess. You have all of the right ingredients. Orphaned, weird undiscovered powers, loves to be out in nature, and of course, affinity for animals.”
I laughed then, which only made my headache throb harder. I loved this crazy bunch.
Nadine patted Hemlock's back. “Alright, wanna see the trick I taught him?”<
br />
I barely heard what she said over the smell of bacon that was assaulting my brain, so I just nodded.
Nadine plucked one strip off of my plate. Hemlock whined again, standing up and facing her. Nadine spoke in a firm voice: “Sit.”
Hemlock did.
“Shake.”
He did.
“Eat,” she said, and held the bacon in her mouth, letting the majority hang from her teeth. She bent down gingerly, and Hemlock tenderly took the piece of bacon from her mouth and chewed it.
“That’s disgusting,” Danny commented.
My heart soared at the sight of the once vicious dog taking bacon from Nadine’s mouth.
“That’s amazing!” I told her, ignoring Danny.
Nadine gave the sorcerer a smirk, and Keegan came up from behind her.
“I made that, so you better like it,” he declared.
I looked at the plate, impressed. The boys were finally learning how to cook.
Isaac made a tsk-tsk noise and I was reminded of his declaration that he didn’t kill anything so that he could eat. The strip of bacon was poised at my mouth.
“Eating meat weighs down your energy and gunks up your chi,” Isaac declared.
I stared at the bacon. I literally could not stop salivating; it was a learned response. But I’d promised to give this druid apprenticeship a try. “Okay … I declare, from now on, I give up all meat. No burgers, no chicken, or fish!”
Isaac beamed at me like a proud parent.
“Except...” I held up a hand. “Bacon. I am a veggie-bacon-tarian.”
Logan chuckled and I felt bad when hurt crossed Isaac’s face, his bright copper eyes dimming a little. My joke was not received well.
“Did your mother eat meat?” Isaac asked me, and it was like the wind had been knocked out of me. Talking about my mom still did that.
I shook my head. “No. She didn’t.” She would prepare it for me but never ate the stuff herself. Guilt washed through me at the memory of my mother trying to make me go vegetarian at age six, but I just wanted to eat what my friends ate, so she never pushed it after that.