Ancient Ways

by Patti Larsen

  “You two go,” Gram said. “At least Quaid will have an excuse and he might be able to make one for you if you can get to Mia before her watchers do.”

  Charlotte didn't ask. Didn't have to. Like she'd let me leave her behind.

  “You'll have to cover for us,” Quaid said. “Miriam assigned two Enforcer teams to each coven.”

  Gram's face screwed up in a scowl. “Lot of good that will do now,” she said.

  Hadn't I just had the same thought?

  I felt the arrival of our new watchdogs just before we stepped through the veil. Gram would have no problem handling them, I knew. Besides, if Mom expected to fence in entire covens with four Enforcers, if her plan was to keep us all prisoners in our own homes, she had another thing coming.

  And I honestly had no doubt in my mind such was the case. The grim look Quaid gave me as we emerged from the veil on the Dumont property told me he assumed the worst too.

  We need to come together, I sent to him as he extended his Enforcer power around Charlotte and I. Not sit in our own little segregated families and wait it out.

  I agree, he sent as blue flames licked around me, the flash of light so bright I had to squint my eyes closed. But she's Council Leader. And the covens are scared. Do you think they'll try something new or fall back on the old ways at a time like this?

  The idiots. He was right. They'd slink down into their hidey holes and hope this all went away.

  I didn't have that luxury. Or want it.

  Shocking.

  While the veil deposited us behind the Dumont mansion, Quaid's power landed us right in Mia's bedroom. I heard her shriek and lunged for her before she could freak out further, Quaid joining me as Charlotte fell back to snuffle around the room, stopping with her ear to the door.

  Mia fell against me the moment she realized who I was, reaching then for Quaid, sliding her arms around his neck. She sobbed on his shoulder, bruise-dark circles under her eyes, pale skin almost transparent. Her crystal blue gaze locked on me as she clung to her brother.

  “Thank you for coming to visit,” she whispered. Clearly forgetting she'd thrown me out the last time I was here.

  Sigh.

  Quaid eased her gently back, carrying her over to the window seat where he knelt beside her. White hands twisted into knots while warm, tanned ones, twice her size, folded around her fingers and pressed tight.

  “Mia,” he said, “we have a plan to take the Dumont family magic back. But we need your help to do it.”

  He might as well have told her she'd just been crowned empress of the world. Mia's downcast expression vanished, absolute joy washing over her as she lunged at him again, hugging him so tight I thought his head might pop off.

  “Really?” She looked up at me, an excited six-year-old on Christmas morning. “You know who took it? Where it is?”

  I let Quaid do the talking, staying out of it as much as I could. For obvious reasons. At least this way if someone tried to call interference, I could honestly say I didn't open my mouth once. Mia was so wrapped up in Quaid's explanation she barely looked my way again until he was through.

  Jaw set, a new determination lighting her face, Mia pushed herself to her feet. A thin thread of hope wound itself around my heart as she stepped away from her brother's support and met my eyes.

  “I'm ready,” she said, voice quivering despite her surge of strength. “Just tell me what to do.”

  I couldn't help the smile lifting my lips. Maybe I was wrong about Mia. If she survived this, won back the Dumont family magic, it was likely she would finally become the leader they needed. Surely this kind of trial by fire would help her find her backbone.

  As much as this was a disaster and a mess, it just might turn out for the best in the end. The thought the Brotherhood's plan might have shot them in the foot made me want to hug myself and giggle like a little kid.

  We were a long way from celebrating yet, though.

  “We have to making it past the Enforcers guarding the house.” Quaid glanced at Charlotte who shook her head at him, coast clear. “I can't carry all of us out at once.”

  “It's my house,” Mia said, straightening her shoulders, wiping at the tear-tracks on her cheeks. “I'll leave it if I want to.”

  Mia found her spine? Check.

  Wicked.

  We didn't make it half-way down the hall before we were discovered.

  “And where are you off to, mon chef?” I scowled at Andre who slipped out of a side door to stand in front of us. His blue eyes traveled over me, Charlotte, Quaid and finally settled on Mia. “In such illustrious company.”

  Mia's chin began to quiver, hands clawing at her sides. “Stay out of my way, Andre.” Her newly-acquired spine seemed to have some cracked vertebra. “This is none of your concern.”

  He tsked softly into the quiet air. “Au contraire,” he said. “The safety and security of my leader is most definitely my concern.” Icy eyes landed on me. “Wouldn't you agree, cher?”

  Damn him. We were doing this for his benefit too, the slimy ass. I wanted to respond, to act, but I couldn't, gagged by the need to stay out of it, if only verbally.

  “I'm going to retrieve the family magic.” Mia said it like she was off to the store for some milk and did he need anything else? Andre's arched eyebrow lifted, handsome, angular face so surprised all the arrogance washed out of him for once.

  But when he spoke again, he wasn't looking at her. Nope. Those blue Dumont peepers were fixed solely on yours truly.

  “We have never been friends,” Andre said, voice low and accent thick, as though emotion affected his English, “and, indeed, have been enemies. But I tell you now, Sydlynn Hayle, if you can accomplish this thing, the Dumont family will owe you a debt we will never be able to repay.”

  Straight up. I bowed my head to him, just a little, as Mia's eyes snapped angrily at me.

  “We need to leave,” she said. “And we could use some help.”

  Andre didn't hesitate. “Come this way.”

  Why was I not surprised there was a secret exit from the back of the house? Likely many secret exits. This was a nervous family, apparently.

  And as I tore open the veil, turning to see Andre watch us go, I fought with the understanding he wasn't the enemy. Just another witch tied to a system forcing us to hide and plot and work behind the scenes.

  No, the real enemy was ahead of us.

  And they better look the hell out.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Mia shivered in my kitchen while Gram gave her the once over. I didn't have the time to coddle the Dumont leader, not while Demetrius linked his mind to me to show where we were going.

  “A high rise?” The looming sky scraper towered over a city I didn't know. My fear of heights triggered as he swooped my view toward the base of the building, flinching as we almost impacted it only to fly upwards like some mental roller coaster, passing row after row of windows as his mind led mine all the way to the top.

  Where we slammed into a barrier of emptiness, bouncing back from it so hard I snapped out of the vision.

  Demetrius shook his head, staggering. “Oops,” he said. “That's new.”

  A fireball headache burst behind my eyes before slowly fading into a dull ache.

  “The roof?” I pressed my hands to my temples.

  Demetrius bobbed a nod. “All the way to the top,” he said.

  Of course it was. Wouldn't do to have their weapon of mass magic destruction on the ground or anything. Put it up on the pinnacle of some giant building where falling was a real possibility.

  Wasn't afraid of heights, I realized. Just the ahhhhhhhh splat at the end.

  Gram's faded blue eyes narrowed. “We have to do something about that little problem of yours someday,” she said.

  Leave it to her to know exactly what I was thinking. Quaid frowned, but I ignored the questioning look behind his worry and shrugged in the fading light of the setting sun. We'd lost the whole day alrea
dy. Time to get moving.

  In the dark. My favorite.

  Why couldn't bad crap happen in the morning for once? Just to break up the creep factor monotony?

  Demetrius pointed at my hand. “You need it,” he said.

  Right. I ran upstairs to my room, and rooted around in my underwear drawer until my fingers encountered cold stone. The crystal pulsed in my palm, waking as I touched it, bubbling with happiness like an eager puppy, its tiny soul bouncing and wriggling in pleasure. More guilt. I'd been ignoring it lately, despite the fact I knew it was alive—or as alive as something inanimate could be, thanks to the power of the vampire essence. She soothed it personally, helping it settle, her cold, white magic pulsing inside the crystal until the wee soul calmed. I still felt it tickle against my hand as I slid it into my pocket, the chill of it warming to my body temperature.

  I really had to take better care of it. And, as I hustled back down stairs, I had my second epiphany in this madness. I worked the exercises to connect to my maji power and had done so, but the maintenance of that power, the final connection, always evaded me. I admitted to myself there was serious shudder factor tied to my sorcery, holding me back. But the crystal would make things much easier.

  Gram was right. I really was an idiot sometimes.

  Demetrius clapped his hands in excitement when I returned to the kitchen and let him see my prize. One finger stroked it gently, a spark of white magic jumping between them.

  “Excellent,” he said in a clear, crisp voice, jumbled mind coming together in lucidity for a moment. His whole body shifted, shoulders going back, face serious. “Though I wish you'd spent more time with it, Sydlynn. Your tie to the crystal is the support system for your sorcery. Not necessary, but definitely an advantage.”

  Yammer yammer. I already beat myself up about this, thanks.

  The kitchen door opened as I looked up, met Shenka’s eyes. She looked tired, but determined and I was again thankful I chose her for my second.

  She took one look at our little group, at Mia shivering, Quaid standing over his sister and nodded. “I take it you’re off again.”

  No resentment. Just support. I loved her so much in that moment, I went to her and hugged her, feeling the warmth of her arms as she hugged me back.

  I need you to stay out of it. Tears prickled in my eyes, my chest tight as I held on to her. If this goes bad, and there’s a good chance it will, I need to know you’re here. That someone I trust can protect the family.

  She clung to me as much as I to her. I want to come with you, she sent. But I’m your second. And I’ve known all along what that means. That you, my crazy friend with your crazy life, will always be running off and I’ll be here, making sure home is still here for you to come back to. Shenka leaned back, smiled bravely. I’ll die before I let anything happen to our coven, my leader.

  No way I was crying. No. Way.

  Sniffle.

  “Are we doing this, or what?” I turned and met Quaid's eyes, voice gruff with emotion, needing to go before I broke down into a weeping mess resembling Mia. Charlotte hovering behind the tall Enforcer trainee. To my surprise, Sassafras leaped the distance between himself and my bodywere. She caught him easily, lifting him to lie across her shoulders.

  “You're not coming,” I said.

  “Try and stop me.” He dug his claws into the leather of Charlotte's jacket. “We have no idea what you're walking into. And I refuse to let you go without backup.”

  Considering I had Quaid and Charlotte, not to mention Demetrius's considerable sorcerer abilities, I was hardly alone.

  Until I thought about the empty place we headed to.

  “This is a bad idea.” My hand fisted around the crystal. “There's a very good chance none of you will have access to your magic where we're going.”

  “All the more reason I should join you,” Sass said. “If it comes to a fight we're losing, I can run for help.”

  Insufferable ball of fluff. “That's stupid,” I said. “If we're in a fight we're losing, we all run for help.”

  Gram snorted, but shook her head at me. “Take the cat,” she said. “He has more resources than power at his disposal.”

  Fine. Whatever. I was surrounded by stubborn.

  Wonder where I got it from.

  The night air had cooled, a skim of moisture squeaking under my sneakers as I crossed the dew-laden grass of the backyard. Gram's magic, tied to the family and to me, bubbled over us. I could feel that same protective touch she'd used in the Enforcer stronghold slide outward, this time forming a kind of generalized lack of interest as well as a false image. I glanced up and to the right, caught sight of two Enforcers hovering on the roof. Neither looked our way, staring out over the street.

  Good thing someone was paying attention. I totally forgot they were here.

  “Be quick,” Gram said. “I can't fool all four of them for long.” She winked. “Without doing some damage, that is.”

  Quaid gaped at her. Gram giggled and smacked him on his very attractive ass, ending her blow with a little pinch to his tightly-jeaned right cheek.

  “Didn't teach you this trick yet, did they, boy?”

  Quaid's surprise vanished, a wicked grin on his face as he bent and kissed her on the corner of her mouth.

  “Know it now,” he said.

  Gram's wicked cackle made me grin. Despite the desperate situation, despite where we were going, I could still find joy in the most amazing places.

  Mia wasn't quite so able. “Can we go?” She shivered beside her brother, eyes huge, face sunken and ghostly white in the low light over the back door.

  Right. Fun time over.

  Without another glance at the now useless Enforcers, knowing Gram had my back, I crossed the last few feet to the edge of the park and sliced open the veil. Quaid took my hand, Mia his, Demetrius reaching for my other while Charlotte tucked in on the end, both hands around Mia's waist while Sassafras clung like a fur stole to the weregirl's neck.

  All aboard. Hands and feet inside the Syd at all times.

  Here we go.

  I opened to the emptiness of Demetrius, felt his power touch my crystal—and he wasn't empty anymore. I saw the building, felt the path, dove into the veil.

  Just as Trill's mind touched mine.

  Syd—

  She was gone, her mental connection severed by the rubbery membrane between planes. That one word, my name, had concern behind it, real fear. Was she in trouble? I had no way of knowing. Not while we slid through the darkness.

  My demon welcomed the touch of the Node, the source of balance on Demonicon, and I paused one moment to embrace the warmth of its power as it drew me close, the tang of my demon grandmother's soul alive and well. Ahbi's power wished me well before the veil tore once again and we were free.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty Five

  I stepped out into a warm night at the entrance to a busy street. The humid air hit me immediately, moisture standing out on my skin. Jeans were too heavy, my t-shirt the only saving grace. I heard Sassafras hiss, glanced over to watch his fur puff up as Charlotte gently slid him from around her neck and cradled him against her side with one arm, shedding her leather jacket from the other.

  “Where are we?” I turned to Demetrius, hoping he'd maintained his sanity long enough to get us through this mess. Instead, I found him hopping up and down, from foot to foot, hands pressed to his mouth as he giggled silently into them.

  “Sunshine state,” he said.

  Florida.

  “Looks like Miami.” Quaid pulled Mia against him, one arm around her shoulders as she slumped in the heat. “We lived here once, when I was with the Moromonds, a long time ago.”

  I looked up, up at the building, now familiar, reached for it with my power.

  Came up empty. No pun intended.

  “The whole building is warded now,” I said.

  Demetrius stopped his crazy dance and swallowed so hard I heard him.

  “That means
,” I said to the others, “I was right about your magic. You'll be powerless.” I met Charlotte's eyes. “All but you, apparently.”

  She nodded. “The power in the Brotherhood house had no effect on my abilities,” she said. “I don't know why.”

  Demetrius bobbed a nod, making “Ooh! Ooh!” sounds and raising his hand like an eager kid at the front of the class. I sighed. This was going to be a long night.

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  “They made you.” Demetrius clapped his hands quickly, a rapid-fire applause. “So you're immune.”

  Charlotte flinched, scowled so deeply even I was surprised, leaned toward the grinning little man with her wolf distorting her face.

  “Liar,” she snarled. “We were not made by sorcery. We were born from greater things.”

  Well, that was interesting. But Demetrius either didn't take the werewarning or didn't care, because he reached out with one finger and touched the tip of her nose. Even made the “boop” noise.

  “We really need to talk,” he said in his lucid voice before cackling like a crazy person.

  “Later,” I said, as a pair of pedestrians, replete in walking shorts and really hideous matching shirts, their elderly appearance and large camera marking them as tourists, glanced our way. The woman gasped before hurrying her husband along. I looked around at our little group, Charlotte still in mad-were mode, Demetrius bobbing like a whack-a-mole, Mia's ghostly appearance.

  Freak show, coming through.

  I led them into the street anyway, through the wandering tourists, to the sound of cars passing, the thrum of music coming somewhere to the right. I smelled the salt tang of the ocean, different than the Pacific, but welcome nonetheless. I knew my family would never be able to move again, not with the Wild Hunt sleeping under the back yard, but I really had to consider a summer place by the sea.

  We stopped at the crosswalk to wait for the light amid a small group of pedestrians. Most took a side-step away from us, but a pair of teens in jeans to their knees and sporting headphones in their ears both flashed us a wave, the first one winking at me with a wolf-whistle.