The Outcast

by Patti Larsen

  The Brotherhood was coming for us. Were already here.

  There was no thinking involved. Just action. I reached out to my family—to everyone in Wilding Springs I loved—and shifted them to the only safety my unconscious mind could come up with.

  And in that precise moment, the souls of all of my loved ones in my hands, I blacked out.

  ***

  Chapter Ten

  My head pounded, voices whispering around me. Where was I? It felt dark, damp, smelled of mustiness and stale air. I struggled to wake, though part of me wanted to remain in the black and not emerge.

  Why was I afraid?

  When my eyes finally flickered open, I felt my demon groan, my vampire hiss her weariness. Shaylee remained asleep, and no amount of shaking would wake her. I left her to rest, eyelashes fluttering as I looked up.

  And into Quaid’s worried eyes.

  He bent over me, pressing his lips against my forehead. I gasped a breath, tried to raise my hand, to touch his cheek, but it was as if someone drained all the strength from my body. My magic was there, but weary, so weary. Mom’s face entered my range of vision, face pinched, but a tiny smile on her lips.

  “Sweetheart,” she said. And burst into tears.

  They didn’t last long, just a few soft sobs, a splash of moisture on my cheek. My lips opened and closed, but no sound came out. I coughed, trying to clear my throat, body aching so much I stopped immediately.

  What the hell happened?

  “Mom!” Ethie dove on top of me, little body trembling, but I didn’t have the strength to hug her. Quaid lifted her free, leaving my mother to examine me. I managed to turn my head, to meet Gabriel’s eyes where he stood next to Quaid, clinging to his father’s free hand.

  And over his shoulder, at the darkness, lit by a perma glow from above.

  I knew this place. I’d been here a few disasters before. But, it wasn’t empty like I was used to. This time it was stuffed full of people, staring at me, terrified but determined faces watching my every breath.

  I turned my head slowly back, looked up at Mom. “What?” It was the best I could do.

  “We’re fine.” Mom stroked my hair, a slow and steady motion that reminded me of when I was young, times she needed to reassure herself as much as me. “We’re all here, and we’re safe.”

  Something heavy and soft landed on my thighs. I look down to see Sassafras watching me. His eyes flared amber, ears flat back against his head.

  “It was an attack,” he said, and he didn’t sound happy about it. Attack. What attack? I was able to raise my arm at last, rubbing one hand over my face. I vaguely remembered a conversation we had, about feeling dull? And waking up, drinking milk. Fire—

  It all came back in a rush, hitting me almost as hard as it had when it happened. I choked on the surge of fear that rose before forcing myself to draw a breath.

  “Mom.” I struggled to rise and she helped me, one hand on my back, the other holding my free arm. I realized then why my power felt so drained, why Shaylee was still asleep.

  The cavern. Where we’d found Cesard the Firbolg magician, trapped here with the demon lord and vampire essence, both of whom possessed him. Though he was long dead and gone, the demon dealt with, the vampire integrated with me, this place remained a prison of sorts, the power of it absorbing magic, muffling elemental abilities completely.

  My feet tingled as I touched down on the dirt, still bare as they were last night. Wait, was it last night? Before I could ask, still wobbly and weak, I felt the rumbling unhappiness of powerful green toned magic in the earth beneath me and had a moment of shock.

  “We’re all here?” I met Mom’s eyes. “The Wild Hunt, too?” Gwynn ap Nudd and his Sidhe host once tried to destroy Wilding Springs and then the world. But Shaylee was his true love, reincarnated in me, and she convinced him to go back to sleep. Under the lawn in my back yard.

  What were he and his host doing here?

  “All of us.” I looked around, spotted so many faces I knew and loved, Charlotte and Sage among them. Galleytrot lay in the dirt at Quaid’s feet, panting softly, eyes flaring with red fire in time with the surging strife of the Wild. Mom’s squeeze of my hand made me refocus on her. “You saved us all, Syd.”

  More tears, but these she was able to contain quickly.

  “We don’t know for certain what happened,” Mom said. “Only that we all woke to a surge of your power and found ourselves here, and you unconscious.”

  I shook my head, hating the headache, but letting my vampire soothe it a little as I gathered my thoughts past the fear and nauseated stirring in my stomach. “There was a girl,” I said. “A girl devoured by fire. She landed in the yard.” I wasn’t making much sense, but Charlotte came to me, crouching before me, hands holding mine.

  “What did she look like?” Her intense blue eyes locked me in the moment.

  “Dark hair, I think.” She was on fire, for the element’s sake. “Small.” I shrugged.

  “What did she say?” Charlotte wasn’t dropping it.

  “To run,” I said, gasping out the word. “If I loved all of you, to run and not look back.”

  Charlotte half turned, looking up at Sage. “It must have been Zoe.”

  Who?

  Sage nodded. “Zoe Helios,” he said. “The Oracle girl from California.”

  I couldn’t process that right now. “The Brotherhood attacked us.”

  Mom nodded. “As far as we can tell,” she said. “In the day and a half since we’ve been here, we’ve managed to sneak a few people out to check into what’s happening.” She grimaced. “We don’t know much.”

  “We know enough,” Dad said, sitting beside her, one arm around her shoulders. I leaned back against the stone wall, the thin ledge along the edge once my bed, now keeping me from falling over by offering me a stable seat. “We know the whole family made it out and that the Brotherhood have no idea where we are.”

  That was a blessing. “I didn’t know I could do that.” I was shocked at my own ability. Even my vampire and demon seem in awe of what we’d done.

  “Neither did we,” Mom said with a wavering smile. “But we’re very grateful you could.”

  Though I wouldn’t want to have to do it again anytime soon. The very idea of using magic made me feel nauseated. “We’re safe here, for now?”

  Mom squeezed my hand. “As long as we stay out of sight and inside the cavern, that seems to be the case.”

  “I don’t think they have any idea where to look,” Quaid said. “Chances are, they assume we’ve gone to another plane or something. Since this cavern was only ever known to allies, the Brotherhood are in the dark. At least, for now.”

  It would do. But I hated the thought of the family trapped here, sitting ducks, power silenced by the magic of the cavern.

  We had to get out of here.

  “Did you manage to get word to Erica?” I breathed deeply, getting some of my energy back. But I knew I’d be feeling the effects of my massive power output for a while yet.

  “Not yet,” Mom said, her voice shaking slightly. “The few times we’ve tried, we felt power focus on us and had to run.”

  “We need to get outside of Wilding Springs,” Dad said. “But even our attempts to cross the border physically are somehow tracked. Quaid and I made it as far as the edge of our territory and had to run when a small group of Brotherhood showed up.”

  “So we’re trapped.” Unacceptable.

  “There’s more,” Mom said. She’d always been a rock to me, only stumbling a few times, and only when it wasn’t her fault. She’d gone through having her power stripped, being put on trial and fought the control of the Brotherhood and made it out the other side stronger than ever. But I’d never seen her this afraid. “The power the Brotherhood is using to hold us in…”

  “Mom.” I pulled her toward me, out of Dad’s embrace and into mine. “Tell me.”

  “It’s the Council’s power.” Her words whispered into my ear, fanning my
own fears. “Syd, they’ve somehow captured and are using our witch magic against us.”

  That could only mean one thing. “The Council is in trouble.”

  Mom nodded, wiping at tears like they were acid on her face. “I fear the worst,” she said. “That our Council has fallen.”

  “Does that mean this is North America-wide?” I sat forward with a surge of energy fed by the anxious need to act.

  “Maybe not,” Dad said. “It’s possible they are somehow using part of the Council power without anyone’s knowledge. Think about it.” His soothing voice made us all focus on him. “Sassafras’s worries about being manipulated could extend further than we thought. We all searched for the reason for the dull feeling.” I nodded, Mom too, while the demon cat just watched and twitched his tail. “We found nothing. If Belaisle and his sorcerers found a way to hide their activity from us, it’s possible he’s done the same to the Council.”

  “So, they could be okay,” I said. “And oblivious.” We could certainly use some Enforcer help right about now, though they would be little aid against the sorcerers. Unless Erica was taking a page from the European leader’s book and started training her Enforcers in sorcery like Femke was.

  “All I know is,” Mom said, “that’s the reason we couldn’t find anything when we searched. The Brotherhood piggybacked their power on the Council’s. And masked their movements until it was too late.”

  “Almost too late.” Dad smiled sadly at me, leaning in to squeeze my knee. “Nice job, cupcake.”

  I ghosted him a smile. “How many times, Dad?” He winked. “Don’t call me cupcake.”

  “Forever,” he said.

  “I’m afraid I have more bad news,” Quaid said, shattering the brief moment of old humor. Wouldn’t have taken much, but from the tightness of his lips and the way his brow pulled down over his chocolate eyes, I knew it had to be something big.

  “Hit me,” I sighed.

  “I made it to an ATM,” he said. “We needed money, supplies.” He gestured behind him at the family, still dressed in their pajamas, some with blankets. A day and a half like this. I wished I’d risen sooner.

  “And?” I held his gaze, ready for the worst.

  “I have no idea how,” he said, voice grim, “but the money’s gone.” He let that sink in. “We’re broke.”

  ***

  Chapter Eleven

  Okay, so not ready for the worst. “We’re what?”

  Quaid crouched, hugging Gabriel to him, still cradling Ethie in one arm. “All the accounts were cleaned out, babe.” He looked about ready to cry himself, jaw jumping, voice thick. “The Hayle family fortune is gone.”

  I spluttered at him. “That’s impossible,” I said. Our money was old, really old, and vast. I’d lost track of how much we were worth, where it was all diversified and hidden.

  “I hit an internet café,” Quaid said. “I checked every single account I could think of. Stocks, investments, all of it.” He swallowed hard. “Gone.”

  I didn’t care about the money. But that meant I couldn’t provide for my family.

  “What have you been doing for supplies?” Desperation washed over me, crushed me like the weariness never did. My world was spiraling downward and I felt like there was nothing I could do to stop it. This was worse than anything I’d been through before. Every other time I’d been in trouble, I’d kept the family out of it as best I could. But this…

  This was intensely personal.

  “You must have been hacked.” Sage’s soft voice broke through to me, but I just stared at him with nothing to say. “From what Charlie told me, the Brotherhood are known to use modern tactics to their advantage, right?” I nodded, and so did his wife, my mother, all of us. “Can you generate more money?” He waggled his fingers in the air with a grimace. “You know, with magic?”

  Of course I could. “It will take time,” I said at the exact moment Mom spoke the same words. “Time we don’t have,” I finished for us both and met Quaid’s eyes. “I take it supplies—food and water and clothing—are the priority?”

  His jaw jumped. “And blankets. Yes.” He looked back over his shoulder. “A few of us have been raiding coven houses, but it’s getting risky.” I realized then I hadn’t seen Shenka yet and tensed, though I was sure she was fine because Mom said everyone made it. I finally spotted her sitting with Esther and Estelle Lawrence, the old twins, helping them cover themselves with a quilt. “The Brotherhood sorcerers are everywhere, Syd.” He sounded offended, as in, “How dare they be in our town?” Like he wanted to wage a one-man war on them, and I was with him all the way.

  “No one’s been caught yet,” Mom said, “but it’s only a matter of time if we keep going this way. Our safety up to now has been based on them not knowing where we are.” She sagged a little. “We were waiting for you to wake so we could decide what to do.”

  “A few of the family have mentioned turning ourselves in,” Dad said, so softly it was clear he didn’t want anyone to hear. “But the majority are waiting for us to rally and kick some ass.”

  If only. I felt like a day-old kitten left out in the rain to die. But, I did have some hope to offer. “There’s a cash stash in the house,” I said. Waved off Quaid when he frowned at me. “In the basement. Set it up ages ago, back before you and I were married.” I almost forgot about it. I put it down there, buried under a magicked chunk of concrete, right behind the mummified remains of Batsheva Moromond. Quaid’s former adopted mother, witch-turned-vampire queen and all around evil bitch stayed down there after her defeat and draining, gathering mold and dust. And marking the spot where my secret cache of emergency funds were hidden.

  “I’ll get it.” Quaid handed Ethie over to Mom, standing after a quick hug for Gabriel. But I shook my head and forced myself to stand. My muscles protested at first, but as I stretched out, the deep and persistent ache finally eased.

  “Too big a risk for just money,” I said. “At least until we know what’s going on. We need solid information. The family is safe enough for now.”

  “I’m coming with you.” Mom’s mouth opened, a clear protest on her face, but I squashed it with a scowl. For the first time since I’d woken, anger—real and burning anger—jerked to life inside me, making Shaylee stir at last.

  “You have no idea where I’m going,” I said. “And I’m the only one who can use the veil in this family.”

  “Not true.” Charlotte stood to face me, grim and threatening. “There’s three of us, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  Right. Four if we counted Dad. She’d developed that ability, along with Sage, when the pair of them accessed their full power by accepting wolf form. “Have you tried riding it out of Wilding Springs?”

  She nodded, irritation in her eyes. “Twice,” she said. “Blocked both times.”

  Probably because they could only ride our veil, use our plane’s membrane to travel, though it was likely Charlotte and Sage could reach Demonicon if they tried. I, on the other hand, had access to all of them. Surely the Brotherhood didn’t have a corner market on the entire Universe. If Meira’s and Fergus’s lack of issue was any indication, it was a safe bet I’d have better luck than Sage and Charlotte.

  “I’m joining you.” I was hardly surprised by her insistent tone, her flat stare.

  “Of course you are.” I hugged her and she hugged me tightly back after a moment of shock. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  The family stirred when I stood and now that I was mobile, I knew I had one further responsibility to deal with before I went anywhere. It only took a short time to make the rounds, Shenka joining me with a tragic and fearful look on her face. I’d never seen her so shaken, though she handled the family as carefully and kindly as ever.

  By the time I released the last of them from a gentle hug and turned to Shenka, I knew there was something much deeper troubling her than our present predicament.

  “Tallah.” She managed that one word before throwing her arms around me.
I hugged her tight and wrapped her in what magic I had access to, vampire and demon both.

  “We don’t know what’s going on yet,” I whispered to my shaking second. “Until we do, we can’t assume the worst.” Shenka leaned away, wiping her nose, nodding. “I know it’s cruel, but I need you to be strong for the family.”

  She gripped my hands in hers. “Always,” she said. “Just… find out what happened to my sister?”

  “I’m not coming back without news.” And maybe a Brotherhood sorcerer’s head or two.

  Mom joined us, Charlotte with her, Quaid hanging back though he didn’t look happy about it. “I know exactly where you’re going, by the way. We need answers.”

  “Harvard.” I nodded sharply. “On it.” And took her hand. As I reached for the veil, Mom on one side and Charlotte on the other, my rage built, sizzling in my gut. No one attacked my family. No one.

  Someone was going to die today.

  The veil welcomed me as it always did, my demon magic easily cutting a way through the rubbery membrane. But I wasn’t going to Demonicon. At least, not yet. I immediately felt the resistance that must have stopped Charlotte and Sage as I stepped into the gap and tried to push my way through.

  Okay then. Plan B.

  Instead of riding the veil itself, I pulled us out of it, into the vast network beyond. I was so used to sailing through it on Max’s back, the weightless feeling caught me like a shock. I could feel Mom and Charlotte hanging onto me and adjusted my focus as I turned us around, supported and suspended as my full maji power surged back to life now I was out from under the influence of the cavern’s control. I was still weak, but with some reserves remaining, thankfully. I didn’t have time to figure out how much, nor did I want to. Knowing might scare me.

  We’re safe, it’s fine. I hoped reassuring them would ease their tight grips on my hands.