"Wait," I said as I noticed Leda's body tensing, getting ready to disappear. "Maybe you can help me with something else. Earlier, Nadir spoke with Dublin's Mistress and demanded that Simon and Ieza be returned to him. Things didn't play out in his favor, and it might be useful to know if this is affected his relationship with the vampires of Ireland."
"No. As I said, Nadir does not speak with me at any great length. Asking questions will only raise suspicions."
"So don't ask him. Not directly. Or find someone else who will talk. If not about that, then about anything that might be helpful. We're facing a battle on many fronts here, and information can only be helpful. Even if we don't quite know how yet. I wouldn't want you to risk anything that might get you or Kassie hurt, but if you see an opportunity, please, take it."
Leda hesitated for a beat. And then she was gone, from Ireland to Greece in a matter of seconds.
And I was officially wide awake. A little girl's life at stake along with my own. And I was about to share this with her uncle and mother, trusting that neither one of them would attempt to turn me over immediately to mitigate any risk to the child they loved very much.
I lingered in bed as I considered my options in the face of this particular disaster. Okay, maybe I could run. Taya had my phone, but I could probably talk her into giving it back. And, even if not, my wallet still sat in the pocket of the jeans I’d worn the day before. I could get dressed, go down the fire escape, hail a cab, and take off. I’d considered it before, and not all that long ago. And, back then, Taya had been part of the problem I've been running from, and she knew all of my favorite hiding spots. This time, I only had to avoid what Simon and Leda knew of me, at least to start.
But running was no more an option this time than it was before. I’d started my life out on the run, before I’d even had the opportunity to make the choice myself. I'd been hidden away, the world made to think I'd died. I supposed this option had technically worked for a while. But what had I missed out on in the process?
And if I ran now, how many other people in situations far more dire than my own, people like Simon and his family, would suffer for it?
That wasn't even considering suffering that experience while knowing that somewhere Kassie was dying of thirst, and her family could do nothing to help.
I had to stay. Maybe I'd even have to turn myself over, but I wasn't quite ready to accept that we’d exhausted all possibilities
For whatever it was worth, I was the leader of the world's first Lesser Magicks faction. I was also the only known living person to possess the abilities of the original factions as well as my own. I wasn't as good as a vampire or werewolf in a fight...hell, even the witches and the fae could probably hold their own far better than I was capable of. But I wasn't defenseless. And that was a start.
And I wasn't alone. Not only did I have my allies here in Galway, but I had the beginnings of a network that stretched far beyond the borders of the city, or the country. And even though there was no way to know if anyone might be willing to help me, or if anything we could do would make a difference, the possibilities were endless. I knew the power of a network better than anyone. The Internet was vast—for all intents and purposes, it was limitless. And so was the potential for lesser magick.
I could see power. Simon could teleport anywhere in the world. Nina could heal. And those were just some of the people I’d met. Who could say what their friends could do? And their friends’ friends.
The network was out there. But I was one of its newest connections. I hadn't yet figured out how I fit into the system, only that I needed to find a way in and harness its power… all without getting myself killed in process.
Chapter 16
I've never been good with plans. That was pretty obvious to me by that point.
It was probably pretty obvious to everyone else as well.
Plans were the type of thing that I'd always known I was supposed to have, but they never seemed to turn up when I needed them most. It had left me diving into far too many situations by simply barreling forward and hoping for the best.
I was in my (late? early?) twenties, and I was only starting to appreciate that plans weren't things that you simply wished for. You had to take the time to build them, measure what you already had on your side, determine what you needed, and find a way to bridge the gap.
After Leda's departure, I could practically hear a clock ticking in my mind. If I couldn’t work out what was next, I wouldn’t be the only one to suffer. Figure it out, Melanie. What skills do you have? Who can you ask for help? What's it would take to loosen Nadir's hold on the Costas family?
And how can you use that to lighten the death grip around the throats of magickal people everywhere?
No. I stopped myself as I pulled on my jeans. That wasn't what this was about. I had to face one battle at a time.
In the living room, I found Taya making lunch while Cooper texted someone from the chair in the corner, scowling down at the screen in his hands.
"Everything alright?" I asked.
Cooper looked up sheepishly. "Yeah, fine. Personal stuff."
"Bryan?"
"Ugh. Thankfully, no. I haven't heard from him, but honestly I'm not too worried. We'll probably find him lurking around, but he doesn't even know what he's looking for."
"He still might be a problem."
"I know."
"But not today."
"Not today."
"Where did Simon disappear to? I just had a visitor that I think he'd like to hear about."
Cooper stood up from his seat in one smooth motion, more like the lunge of a wolf than anything a human would be capable of.
I did my best to smile as Taya rushed back into the living room, hoping they'd know there was nothing to worry about. At least nothing immediate.
"Leda. She was sent to find me. They're holding her daughter, and Nadir isn't willing to wait much longer to collect the people he considers his. I need to talk to Simon. And probably to a whole lot of other people, as well." I needed to act on what little of a plan I'd managed to work out, hoping that more experienced people would be able to fill in the blanks.
"I'll get him," Taya said, grabbing her own phone. These tiny pieces of technology were proving to be far great weapons than anything else I could hope for.
Hooking up to my computer and then hooking into the magick within was second nature. However, the spell I wanted to work was more complicated than anything I'd attempted before. Piecing together a network this large was no easy maneuver; I’d need to hold each link and machine in my mind to ready myself for one big push. There were far more blockages than I'd imagined, like people were beginning to protect themselves from what I could do.
And still, the answers came quickly. People had heard of me, and they wanted to know more.
But curiosity would only get me so far. This was all going on the rather large assumption that anyone would be willing to stand with me on this. A current of fear ran through every conversation I had, like whichever faction was most powerful in each lesser magick's city could hear or read every word we exchanged. Not many were willing to stick their own necks on the line for people they didn't know, going up against those they were certain would find them.
Still, it was a start.
Calls were made and strategies set as the hours passed like minutes, precious daylight ticking away.
More than a few conversations ended on at least partially helpful notes, like the people were very interested in working with me... if I managed to survive the day.
Defeat a master vampire, then we'll talk.
Yeah, sure. No problem at all.
What came next would be about the Lesser Magicks and how we were treated. Nothing more, nothing less. If we wanted to be taken seriously, we had to speak a language that vampires would understand: standing on our own as strong as any faction. It was all the firepower I had, but if I wielded it well, it would be more than enough.
Getting Etha
n up to speed would be the hard part. Well, that and getting him to understand why I needed to do this without him
I opened a text message but closed it out before typing the first word.
Cooper shot me a look from across the room. Was I really that easy to read? Even if I wasn’t, he was. I knew if I didn’t update Ethan soon, Cooper would do it for me. I had never asked exactly why Cooper had been sent to Galway, but whatever Ethan’s orders had been, Cooper would follow them to the letter. Ethan had earned his loyalty for life.
He had also earned more than a text message from me.
I changed my mind twice while the phone was still ringing, but managed not to hang up.
“Hello?” Ethan’s voice sounded as clear as if he’d been standing right there beside me.
My mind and mouth forgot everything my mother had ever taught me about small talk and social niceties. What few pieces of a plan I’d managed to put together by then tumbled out one by one, never stopping long enough to give him a chance to object.
I don’t know why that was what I’d been expecting.
Instead, as soon as I was finished, he offered to come here and back me up. It was a nice idea, and a comforting thought.
“You’re perfect exactly where you are,” I reassured him. “Having an alpha wolf there will probably only put Nadir on edge. At this point I really do think it’s our best shot to just have me and my little powers. A conversation. Nothing for him to worry about.”
At least that was what I hoped. If this did somehow come down to a fight, I’d wish I’d said yes. Maybe I already did. But I couldn’t ask for him to die there with me. Or kill. Having a wolf in the mix would only serve to push supernatural tensions to new heights.
When Ethan didn’t answer right away, my first thought was that I’d finally managed to piss him off somehow. That, in my exhaustion, I’d said or done something wrong.
“Why do you keep doing that?”
“What am I doing?”
“Putting down your abilities. This isn’t the first time that you’ve said something to downplay just how incredible your powers are. What you can do is incredible, Melanie. Absolutely incredible. You have a piece of each of the factions, but pieces that no one else has. And then add in the gift you inherited from your family, seeing the powers of those around you...Melanie, you are magick. And I don’t believe that anyone truly understands yet how much you’re capable of. So it makes no sense to me that you see yourself as less than any witch, fae, teleporter, werewolf, or anyone else.”
“What does it matter how many tricks I can manage? There’s so much I can’t do, so much I can’t change.”
“You and everyone else! I can’t work magick or glamour myself.”
“But you can heal your wounds, live forever, change into an entirely different form. You can even keep vampires away from your daughter with only the threat of retaliation.”
“Being a wolf wasn’t enough to save my wife any more than your mother’s powers could protect her. We’re all more alike than you see.”
I held in a sigh, knowing Ethan was simply trying to give me a pep talk, building me up to face what came next. “Maybe the reason I feel so much less than is that everything about this world has been built to tell me that. It’s right there in the name, and that’s exactly the problem. Or a part of it. Which is probably a good note to end on. I still have so much work to do if I’m going to make any of this work.”
“You’re right. Of course you are. But... one last thing. And, really, I know exactly what you’re going to do even after you hear this. But remember... it doesn’t have to be you. You were born with unimaginable gifts, and you have another gift inside your heart that makes people want to follow you. But your powers, your city, and other people’s ideas about who you should be don’t equal fate. You’re free to live your own life, away from all of this.”
“I could never do that. Not now. Not after everything.”
“I know, but I’m glad you understand that about yourself as well. Good luck tonight, Melanie. You’re going to change the world.”
“That’s a lot of pressure for one night,” I teased, not quite ready to say goodnight. Or goodbye.
Ethan chuckled on the other end of the line. “You’ll do it at exactly your own pace. And I can’t wait to see it all.”
We said our good nights, but I lingered with the phone at my ear.
Ethan’s last reminder really had been the best one. Unlike surviving being abducted or fighting my way past the witches, I wasn’t doing out of this out of necessity. Survival, yes. But it wasn’t the same. I was going into this meeting with Nadir with my eyes wide open. Even knowing in my soul that this wasn’t fate so much as a series of choices, I couldn’t walk away from any of it. I wouldn’t.
Simon returned with Ieza in tow, only moments before his sister appeared, right on schedule. I wasn't quite able to resist staring, tears welling up in my eyes as she was finally reunited with her family. The moment was made that much more painful by the knowledge that they were still missing an integral part of their family.
We all knew that any real threat to that missing piece would mean Simon, Ieza, and Leda would switch sides in an instant.
“Nadir will come,” Leda confirmed after the reunion was forced to a close by the approaching evening. “He is eager to come.”
A tornado of emotions twisted in my gut. I’d have thought getting Nadir on board would be a bigger challenge. The hard part. I’d been prepared to offer him something, whatever I could, to get him here. But he wanted to come.
I watched Leda as she said her goodbyes, looking for any clue that Nadir's compliance was part of a trap she’d helped set, but there was nothing. There was no reason to doubt that either of the Costas' family would fight for their freedom, as much as they could.
It was the vampire who couldn't be trusted, I reminded myself. He was used to getting his own way and had no reason to worry.
Unquestionably, he had a plan to overpower everyone tonight, taking more than what was bargained for. His endgame involved regaining both of “his” teleporters and capturing the child of prophecy, along with decimating everything I'd been working to build.
And, somehow, the plan I'd come up with aimed higher still. This was my first real opportunity to come out swinging, and I had no intention of missing my mark.
Because in the end, I guess planning really isn't a perfect science. Plans will only ever get you so far. Life always gets in the way, no matter how carefully you prepare. As long as you were ready to jump in and improvise when things inevitably didn't go your way, maybe all wasn't lost.
At least that was what I needed to keep telling myself.
The meeting was set. Nadir was coming. He was coming for Simon, and he was coming for me.
What he didn't realize was that I'd be coming for him too.
Chapter 17
Nightfall came quickly.
Too quickly. The same as it always did. What was changing was how I felt about it.
Here in the city, in all of Ireland's cities really, the night was a time of celebration. The night was for friends and good food, for dancing and drinking.
But the night was beginning to lose some of its luster for me. Now all I could do was look out my window and wonder what monsters were out there waiting for me.
How long would it be before even daylight was tainted by knowing I could never be truly safe?
In the final minutes before our set meeting time, I found myself alone in my flat for the first time in days.
I allowed myself a few moments to check in on my parents.
They were still happy, with nothing but nice things to say about their house guest. Both were full of questions but blissfully unaware of just how much my life had changed. Or how there was always the chance that this would be the last time they heard from me.
The vampires probably didn't let their captives keep cell phones. The dead certainly didn't get to. By this time next night, I may ha
ve already said goodbye to everything normal in my life, but not to everything worth fighting for.
Unless things went truly catastrophically, leaving me dead in a ditch somewhere, this didn’t have to be the end. I was more valuable alive than dead. At least I hoped so. And so long as I was living, I would do everything in my power to fight back.
My conversation with Ethan ran through my mind one last time. I needed to believe he was right: my powers could be so much more than I gave them credit for. No matter how long Nadir had been around, he'd never gone up against someone like me. And I could use that.
The absence of other people bustling around was surprisingly more daunting than a relief. I'd become accustomed to the constant reminder that I had people at my back. People who were better versed in the politics of the factions as well as their own abilities, more than I could ever be.
And now I was alone. The status was temporary, but the reality felt so incredibly real and familiar.
The last time I'd felt like this had been my first days in Galway, still living in a hostel while I tried to find somewhere to rent where I wouldn't risk running into anyone supernatural. I'd thought every person with power would be a threat. And even though Galway was quiet, there were always risks.
I hadn't had even a hint of a clue at what was headed my way.
Really, I suppose I'd been lucky. I'd met more witches, wolves, and everything in between in the past month than I'd hoped to know in my whole life. And I'd found people I could count on mixed in with people who would enjoy seeing me destroyed. I'd found friends who were willing to go farther and fight harder than traditional friendship would ask of them.
And I'd found them because I was willing to go just as far to protect them as they would go for me. We all knew that as the world grew more aware of monsters and magick, helping one of us was helping all of us. At least, that was the hope.
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