First Plane

by Patti Larsen

  First Plane

  Book Ten of the Hayle Coven Novels

  Patti Larsen

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2012 by Patti Larsen

  Find out more about Patti Larsen at

  http://www.pattilarsen.com/

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

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  Cover art (copyright) by Stephanie Mooney. All rights reserved.

  http://www.stephaniemooney.blogspot.com/

  Edited by Annetta Ribken, freelance Goddess. You can find her at http://www.wordwebbing.com/

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  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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  Chapter One

  Snow slid down the back of my jacket, but I didn’t care. I was having too much fun swishing my arms and legs back and forth while my little sister, Meira, did the same beside me. The sound of her giggling warmed me up enough the bit of a cold trickle down my neck sneaking past the collar of my coat and knit scarf didn’t bother me so much.

  I squinted up into the bright sunlight as Liam bent over me, mittened hands on his knees, a huge smile on his face. Green glints danced in his hazel eyes, blonde hair sticking out from under his hat.

  I accepted his hand and let him pull me to my feet, turning to observe my handiwork. A perfectly formed—if I do say so myself—snow angel imprinted the crisp white of the park behind town hall, joined by a second as Liam leaned in sideways and practically scooped Meira up from the ground. The floppy red pom-pom on the top of her multi-colored toque bobbed to one side as she cast a critical eye over what she’d made.

  “Mine’s cuter,” she said, bumping me with her shoulder and covering her mouth with her mittens, eyes sparkling.

  “Mine’s bigger.” I shoved her back, sticking out my tongue while I pulled free one of my gloves and warmed my nose with my bare hand. “Big trumps cute.”

  “I don’t know.” Liam looked back and forth between them. “Cute is pretty awesome.”

  She beamed at him and hugged him while he winked at me, just as a giant, shaggy, black dog bounded toward us, his fur caked with blobs of white, and dove head first to our feet, completely obliterating the two angels.

  “Galleytrot!” Meira stomped one foot as the eager hound of the Wild Hunt panted a huge grin at us.

  “Meira!” He ducked his nose into the snow, flinging some at her, to which she squealed. “I love snow!”

  “Yeah, hadn’t noticed.” I found myself laughing while he rolled over and over, grunting as he rubbed his back on the cold ground, tail thrashing, eyes flickering with red fire.

  I turned to Liam, one hand in my jacket pocket. Yes. It was still there. My little gift, nice and safe, waiting for me to deliver it. Just as my fingers closed around it, Liam turned to me with a smile, bending over me, his handsome face pink from the cold.

  Before I could do or say anything, he hugged me, pressing his cheek into my hair. I pulled free my gift, hugging him back, though I could feel my skin heat as Meira giggled again, a wicked look in her eyes, blue flashing to amber as she watched us.

  I caught a glimpse of Charlotte over his shoulder, also watching, but my wereguard’s normal flat expression told me nothing. Surprise, surprise. I’d been getting better at reading her lately, but I was already flustered enough having my little sister watch Liam hug me.

  Don’t get me wrong, he gave great hugs. But there was the little thing about him and his feelings for me while I, the idiot—yes, I admitted it—still couldn’t bring myself to completely let go of Quaid. He’d dumped me, his choice, left me for the Enforcers and freedom, not wanting to be tied to a coven leader. But my heart, despite my resolve to let him go, didn’t want to just yet.

  And it was nowhere near fair to Liam to begin a relationship with him until it did.

  Which meant we were friends, though the farce was hard to maintain at times, my guilt occasionally getting the better of me. Yet here I was, accepting his affection as usual.

  At least I had something for him to break the mood.

  Boy, would it.

  I slid my arms around his neck and dumped the perfectly formed snowball I’d been saving for him down the back of his shirt.

  Cruel? Oh yeah. Funny? You freaking betcha.

  Liam did the snow dance, laughing and howling all at the same time, jerking his shirt out of his pants under his bulky jacket, shaking it and himself until Meira and I were senseless in convulsive laughter. Even Charlotte smiled a little while Galleytrot snorted and shook his big head, snow pattering from his fur.

  Liam turned at last, panting and flushed, eyes slits as he focused on me.

  “You did not.” It made me laugh harder when he used one of my favorite expressions.

  “I so did.” I crossed my arms over my chest and smirked. “Come on then, Sidhe. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  Snowball fights rock. Especially when I win.

  Finally worn out and ready to go inside for some hot chocolate, Meira, Charlotte and I left Liam and Galleytrot behind, the pair retreating with happy waves into town hall and the Sidhe cavern housing the Gate Liam guarded. My invite for them to join us was sweetly turned down, Liam eager to go back to his studying.

  That boy. He needed to get his head out of books more often.

  Thus the impromptu snow party. As we trudged back, I found myself smiling at the Christmas decorations gracing each house, the white lights wrapping each evergreen the town erected waiting for dark so they could begin their twinkling show. I was happy to be home for break. As much as I really liked school and was having a great time now that the Star Club and their tainted connection to Ameline finally disbanded, I missed being home.

  There hadn’t been any news from the former Dumont heir. I hadn’t forgotten about her—hard to do when she almost killed me twice—but I had allowed Mom to lull me into a bit of a less paranoid state when she claimed she and the High Council weren’t dropping the ball. Now leader of that Council, Mom had multiple Enforcers out looking for Ameline and I knew my mother was as determined as I to find the girl and bring her to justice.

  The nice part was, even though things had been strained between Mom and I since the whole Ameline incident at the first of the semester, we’d both softened and let most of our animosity go. Okay, not all of it. But enough we weren’t snarking at each other every five seconds. And despite being super busy with her new duties and unavailable most of the time, Mom promised this Christmas week she’d be ours one hundred percent. No Council business.

  Yeah, I’d believe that when it happened. Still, the alternative to having a mother as Council Leader wasn’t pretty. Namely, the whole of witchdom forced to watch her burned at the stake for allowing Dad to use blood magic in our house rather than taking the leader’s seat on the Council.

  I guess I could handle her being busy.

  “Do you think Mom will like her present?” Me
ira was ten already, amazing. And growing like a weed. She stood to my shoulder and looked much more mature than most kids her age. The last six months had seen her demon features changing, as though she’d reached some milestone Demonicon marked, but we didn’t know about. It freaked me out a bit to see my little sister look like she was going on fourteen when she was still so young to me, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. When she reached out with one hand and took mine, smiling like the little kid I held in my heart, I still felt the girl inside her and that made it okay.

  “I know she will.” We didn’t necessarily celebrate Christmas, per se. Not the religious form of it, anyway. But it had been a tradition in our family for as long as I could remember, Mom’s attempt to make Meira and I feel like we were more like normal people, so present buying and stocking stuffing were still big parts of our celebration.

  “Maybe we should get the other one.” I smiled as Meira fretted over the pentagram necklace we’d chosen for Mom. She’d lost her favorite one over the summer and no amount of searching magic uncovered it. I knew it meant a lot to her, but it was Meira who suggested replacing it. We’d combed all the stores in Boston, finally narrowing our choices down to two.

  “I like the one with the diamonds in it,” I said. “You did too.”

  Meira bobbed a nod. “I know,” she said. “But the other one was more traditional.”

  “We could have just made one, you know.” I found myself laughing at her.

  “I know,” Meira said. “I just didn’t think we could get it right.”

  Agreed. Neither of us was very good with metal yet. “We made the right choice. Those five diamonds were perfect to hold the different element fragments we embedded.”

  Meira grinned at me. “You’re right,” she sighed happily. “Now she can carry a bit of each of us around with her all the time.” We’d both contributed a sliver of power, one for each gem.

  “It was a great idea,” I hugged her to me as we walked. “You’re very thoughtful.”

  Her smile broadened before she startled me with her next question.

  “Are you and Liam dating?”

  Choke. “Um…”

  She shrugged like it was no big deal. “I really like him,” she said while Charlotte coughed softly behind me. Translation: Charlotte was laughing her fool noggin off inside her head.

  Sigh.

  Before I could offer my sister some clever answer that wouldn’t answer her question one way or the other, we both tensed. Not for a bad reason, for once. Meira’s little grin grew into wide-eyed excitement as she hopped up and down in the snow.

  The rush of demon magic filled me with warmth as Dad crossed over.

  Girls, he sent, rich mental voice touching us both. I’m home.

  ***

  Chapter Two

  I grabbed Meira’s hand, feeling Charlotte rush forward to my side as I turned to her. “The veil.”

  She nodded quickly and took my other before I pulled open the barrier between planes and rode it home. I loved the freedom of riding the veil between planes, the rubbery surface welcoming me as always. Not only was it fun and exhilarating, it meant we were saved running for five minutes through slush, instead dumped a heartbeat later into our very toasty kitchen and Dad’s arms.

  Not a moment to waste. At least Mom had brought his effigy home with her from Harvard for the holidays instead of leaving him alone there. He used to visit more often, now that he had his new and improved diamond statue to feed him energy. But those frequent trips from Demonicon to us had tapered off again. I could only guess he was busy because of his responsibilities as a Demon Prince of the Second Plane, a promotion he’d acquired since Sassy, my demon cat sans demon boy, almost died to give Dad the power to cross over after his original effigy was destroyed.

  Long story. Complicated. Like most of my life.

  Meira got to hug Dad first, but I didn’t begrudge her the chance. Not while Mom and my grandmother exchanged worried glances before both staring at me like they knew something that wasn’t going to make me very happy.

  Lovely. What now? I’d spent the last two years or so staggering from one ginormous disaster to another. I was kind of liking the quiet, thanks. But there was no hint of trepidation in Dad’s expression when he finally released Meira and opened his arms to me.

  I don’t care how old I grew or what I went through, there was nothing that could make me feel better than a hug from my father. He was tall, strong and hummed with power, which made my demon very happy.

  “Hey, Dad.” I looked up at him with a smile. “Nice to see you.”

  “Hi, cupcake.” Jeeze, would he ever drop that stupid nickname? I was eighteen, for goodness sakes. But the sparkle in his blue eyes, his human disguise in place hiding the true amber of his gaze, told me he would never, ever stop.

  Sigh.

  It wasn’t until Dad let me go, one hand still on my shoulder, the other reaching out to ruffle Meira’s hair now her funny hat was discarded, I turned back to Mom and Gram and fixed them both with a stare of my own.

  “What’s up?” I tipped my head to the side, catching sight of Sassafras perched on the table just behind Mom’s elbow, as if he were hiding. From what?

  Dad’s hand tightened while Mom spoke. “Your father has some news.”

  Gram snorted. “Is that what you call it?” Ethpeal Hayle spent seventeen years of her adult life fading in and out of reality. Now that she was whole again—or as whole as she would ever be—she didn’t even try to temper her sharp tongue. “I call it a really bad idea.”

  No matter how crazy Gram was, then and now, I trusted her instincts. If she was against whatever was coming, it couldn’t be good. I turned on Dad while Mom clenched her hands together in the lap of her black velvet skirt, forehead pinched together, aging her. When had Mom started getting wrinkles? I would have blamed the Council and all the weight of her duties, but I was sure I’d given her most of them myself.

  “Your grandmother.” Dad paused while both of us, my sister and I, glanced at Gram. “No, girls,” he said, voice gentle. “Your other grandmother.”

  Oh. Um. Wow. “Yeah?” It didn’t come out the most intelligently, but I managed while Meira stared at him with her mouth hanging open.

  “I’ve done my best to hold her off,” he said. “But she insists on meeting you.”

  “Not going to happen.” “Harry, this is a terrible idea.”

  Mom and Gram agreeing? Oh boy. But this time I was the one on the outside of the two of them.

  And I wasn’t alone.

  “What’s she like?” Meira’s surprise was replaced by a little smile. “I really want to meet her, Dad.”

  “So do I.” And had since my last trip to Demonicon, searching for the means to save Dad, only to discover he had a vast family on the other plane I’d never even known or thought about.

  “It’s just for dinner.” Dad sounded almost apologetic as he focused on Mom and Gram. “I’ll have them back in no time.”

  Gram snorted. “This is stupid,” she snapped. “Risky and stupid. The girl’s a coven leader, Harry. She can’t just run off to another plane like this. Not when we have no idea what kind of danger this puts her in.”

  Danger? And hang on a minute, I wasn’t the only one going. Why no concern about Meira? I reached for my sister’s hand. “Should we be worried?”

  Dad shook his head, scowling at Gram a moment while Mom’s agitation grew. I could tell she wanted to say something, but also knew she was very loyal to Dad and was probably hesitating to speak against him.

  “There’s no danger,” Dad said. “We’re just going to dinner.”

  Sassafras grunted as he moved to the edge of the table and sat again, thick tail wrapping around his paws like a furry stole. “You can’t guarantee that,” he said. “Which is why, if you insist on taking the girls, I’m coming with you.”

  Mom looked relieved, even reaching out to stroke his fur, but Gram’s face twisted into a scowl.

&
nbsp; “That’s a comfort, fur ball,” she said.

  “Oh hush, you crazy old bat.” He flicked his ears at her. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “So it’s settled.” I smiled up at Dad, feeling suddenly excited about the proposition. I’d liked Demonicon, or at least the sliver of it I’d been able to see when I was there. How everything was magic and the city itself hummed with power. I grinned down at Meira. “When do we go?”

  “Not until tomorrow,” Dad said. “I don’t want to risk being there after dark. So we’ll leave at lunch. I’ll have you back in plenty of time.”

  Right. The legend thing I’d been warned about the first time I went to Demonicon said we could be trapped there if we stayed after dark. No one even knew if it was true or not. I let the worry drop and focused on the fun.

  Demonicon. My grandmother. Probably uncles, aunts, cousins.

  How cool was that?

  “Excuse me.” Charlotte’s voice shook a little. I turned to her, startled. She had a way of surprising me, so quiet, always around, but so good at her job as wereguard I didn’t know she was there half the time despite my attempts to make her just be my friend. “You’re leaving?”

  “Dad’s plane.” I waited while her flawless face crumpled a little.

  “I’m coming with you.” It wasn’t a question.

  “You can’t.” I glanced at Dad who shook his head. “You have to be a demon.”

  Charlotte’s skin paled to the point I worried she might pass out. “I have to come with you.”

  Not for the first time I wondered if the bond between me and my bodywere was linked with magic. Her sudden strong reaction pretty much confirmed my suspicions, though I’d never thought to check and see if there was a magic connection between us.

  “It’ll be fine,” I told her, leaving Dad so I could comfort Charlotte as she shook a little. “I’ll only be gone a couple of hours.”

  Her blonde hair swung as she shook her head. “You can’t leave me.” Her whisper came out hoarse and broken.