The Outcast

by Patti Larsen

  “It’s not just here,” he said, voice cracking. “The whole town feels lost. Doesn’t it?”

  I hadn’t reached out yet, didn’t have the courage. But now, I had to. And met head on what he meant.

  Wilding Springs had been built by a Gatekeeper, a Sidhe soul carrying family, the O’Danes, that power buried in the very fabric of the town, protecting it. Keeping it safe from harm and expansion, and from the locals noticing anything was amiss.

  When I closed the Gate after Liam’s death, I worried Wilding Springs would change. But it didn’t. Likely due to the fact the Wild Hunt lived under our house, and the power of the coven’s magic—and my maji wards—continued where the Gate’s energy left off.

  I’d taken the family magic with me when I stripped everyone from town to safety. Including the Wild. Leaving Wilding Springs alone and unshielded. Normal. With a gaping hole where magic used to be.

  It was almost enough to crack my shell again, but I held on. Maybe our home wasn’t anymore. But I wouldn’t let the people of this town down. I’d find a way to come back, to salvage what I could. To take back Wilding Springs.

  The thought filled my heart suddenly, drove me to a moment of excitement. To hope.

  “We’ll be back.” I looked up into Quaid’s eyes, saw his surprise, then his determination.

  “Damned right we will,” he said. “This is home, Syd. And they can’t take that from us.”

  “We could run,” I said, one hand on his chest. “We could find a place to start again. And leave the council idiots to their mess.”

  He nodded. “But.”

  That made me laugh, despite the new tears that tracked down my cheeks. “Since when have we ever backed down from a fight?” I sighed, stepped away from him, slinging Ethie’s bag over my shoulder. “We stand our ground. And we take our territory back.”

  Quaid hugged me from behind. “I have an idea,” he said. I turned toward him. “I still have some friends in the Enforcers.” I wondered at times if he missed being one of them. He’d left, thanks to some stupid law keeping us apart. And though I knew he loved me, it was the one thing the two of us didn’t talk about. “I can’t believe they are all in on this. Which means there’s probably some kind of resistance movement in the works.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him he was probably wrong. And, what did I know?

  Witches. I knew witches. And didn’t trust them to do the right thing, ever.

  Still, if that was what he wanted. “Let’s go back,” I said. “Then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

  I led this time, stopping to go back, to search the drawers of the bathroom vanity where I found, tucked carefully into an old sock, the slumbering crystal I’d given so much power to it had developed a soul, held all of my magic on the Stronghold plane while Demetrius asked me to sacrifice everything to save the Universe, only to have my magic returned through this very crystal. It shivered as I prodded it gently, embraced me with excitement.

  They hadn’t found it. And now, it was safe with me. I smiled at Quaid, real hope in this one discovery and he held out his hand to me with a grim one of his own.

  I was half way down the stairs, fingers stroking the angles of the crystal, when I froze in place at the sight of a black tunnel appearing just inside the living room. I hissed at Quaid, reaching for the veil, only to freeze in place and gape as a tall, handsome man with flowing blond hair in a gray coat stepped out. The lovely woman beside him looked familiar, but I was already hurtling myself down the stairs and into Piers Southway’s arms.

  He hugged me tight, thin dress shirt soft under my cheek. “Nice to see I haven’t lost my touch,” he said, winking as I pulled away.

  I laughed, Quaid, too, despite Piers’s usual innuendo that typically raised a frown from my husband.

  We all felt it the same instant, the pressure of approaching power. The Brotherhood must have sensed Piers’s appearance and were coming to investigate. I jerked open the veil as a wave of darkness crashed into the house. With one hand holding Piers and the other pushing Quaid, I dragged us all into the gap and sealed it behind me just before the sorcery hit.

  Let Belaisle suck on that failure like a popsicle from hell.

  ***

  Chapter Seventeen

  We stepped out in the cavern and Piers immediately gasped, staggering forward and into me.

  “What the bloody hell just happened?” He stared at me with huge gray eyes, lips thin from stress. I had no idea the cavern also suppressed sorcery.

  Good to know.

  “Sorry about that,” I said, releasing his hand as Mom and Dad came forward with the kids. I handed off Ethie’s bag before turning to face the sorcerer and his guest. “Only way to keep the family safe.” I punched his shoulder, feeling a wash of relief he was okay. “I take it you know what’s happening?”

  He shook his head, a rough gesture for polished Piers, the young woman beside him distressed. I took a closer look at her as he spoke, the brief flames in her brown eyes making me frown.

  Where had I seen her before?

  “Sydlynn Hayle,” Piers said, ignoring my question in favor of his British politeness. “May I introduce Zoe Helios.”

  I gasped out loud as the wheels in my head clicked together and I finally realized from where I knew her. She raised one hand to say hello, presumably, but I was already in front of her, arms around her, squeezing her tight as I breathlessly whispered in her ear. “Fire girl.”

  It was her. From the back yard. The young woman on fire who saved our skins.

  She hugged me back, tentative at first, then with more pressure. “Sorry about running off like that,” she said. “I was in the middle of something.” Her nose wrinkled as she smiled. “But I promised Iepa I’d save you.” She looked around as I gaped again at the mention of the maji woman who Fate had sent to mentor and guide me. I hadn’t seen her in years. Zoe knew her? “I’m happy to see I made it in time. I wasn’t sure I had.”

  “You were a little busy burning up and everything.” I grinned at her and she grinned back. “Nice to see you’re okay, too.”

  A tiny frown pulled at her brows. “I am,” she said. “Though, for whatever reason, I’ve lost my ability to see the future.” Her hand sneaked into Piers’s. His fingers wound around hers and he pulled her tight to his side as she went on. “I woke, perfectly fine, but the fire…” Her distress made me sad for her. “I can’t call the flames. Or my foresight.”

  It had to be the Brotherhood. “I’m sorry,” I said. “But maybe when we get this mess sorted out, I can help.” I met Piers’s eyes. “Where’s Tallah?” And Shenka. And Charlotte and Sage…

  “No idea,” he said. “I found Zoe at the beach where we met in secret from her family. Only her mother and I were there when she rose from the coals.” He sounded stunned by that fact. “By the time we made it back to Hensley house, everyone was gone.” Guilt colored his words. “We searched for her and her family, but…”

  I squeezed his hand, sympathy aching inside me. “It’s not your fault,” I said. “I’m just glad you made it out okay.” I turned to Zoe. “You’re mother?”

  “Safe,” she said. And nothing more.

  Okay, then.

  Piers’s frown deepened. “Okay,” he said. “Now your turn. Tell me. What the hell?”

  It was down and dirty, my explanation, but Piers got the gist quickly enough, hissing his fury at the turn of events, while Zoe’s free hand rose and covered her mouth.

  “Liander is pure evil,” she said. “He drained the maji, Gaia, used her power to his own advantage while controlling and manipulating my people.” She paused a moment, distress powerful. “He used us against you, Syd. I’m so sorry.”

  Well, that explained a lot. The cheating ass. But, I’d been without the benefit of seeing the future all along and still kicked his scrawny butt. No reason I couldn’t do it again.

  So there, worry. Take a freaking hike already. I had work to do.

  “We’
ve been trying to reach you,” Piers said. “But I’ve been hitting roadblocks like mad.” His arm tightened around Zoe, as though to unconsciously protect her from something. “I’m pinned down here, no access to Europe or any of the other territories. I can make short distance tunnels, but I run into walls and have to step out again. Usually in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Belaisle’s control of the Council power is keeping you out,” I said. “Has to be. Though, as a sorcerer, I wonder how he knows the difference?”

  Piers sighed. “I spent some time in his not so tender mercies. It’s possible he tagged my power somehow.” I wanted to ask, but left it alone. We’d have a drink when this was over and talk about it.

  Or not. But the drink? Hell, yeah.

  “I didn’t think we’d make it here,” he said. “But I found a crack and shimmied through it.”

  “Probably left on purpose.” Quaid ran one hand through his dark hair. “Enforcer tactics, lure you in and trap you.” He shrugged. “It’s what I would have done.”

  “And it would have worked,” Piers said. “If you hadn’t been there to open the veil and pull us out.”

  Zoe shivered. “There’s more to tell you,” she said, fear on her face. “I’ve seen things, Syd. I’ve been seeing visions of you for my entire life.” She swallowed visibly, her distress a living thing as she clung to Piers, though I doubted she was weak, just tired and stressed. “There was a time I thought you the enemy. That I was told you were the Dark One.”

  Typical Brotherhood. “I take it you came to see the error of your ways?”

  “I did,” she said. “Thanks to Piers and Charlotte. They made me question everything.” She stepped away from Piers at last, came to me, gripped my hands in hers. The flames were back in her eyes and I wondered if her power was as lost as she thought. “When I finally understood I was being manipulated, I pushed my visions, tested them for truth. And what I saw…” She bit her lower lip. “Fire, Syd,” she said. “Burning witches, whole families of them. And cities in flame.”

  I choked on any kind of reply. I had no idea what to say to that.

  “We need to act,” Quaid said. “I’m going to contact my Enforcer friends.”

  I turned and nodded to him while Piers cleared his throat.

  “Have you spoken to anyone outside this territory?” Was he worried about his family? The Steam Union followed the leadership of his mother, Eva Southway. And while I wasn’t the blonde ice queen’s biggest fan, nor she mine, I could understand why he would be afraid for her. After all, the Steam Union accepted a great number of ex-Brotherhood members after Belaisle’s defeat. I always worried their defection might be a ruse, a way to plant themselves in the Steam Union. But Eva wasn’t listening to my counsel and it was her choice to handle things the way she did.

  Still, Piers was right. I had to get outside North America and see what was going on. If the whole world had gone insane, or if it was just us. And I knew the perfect person to contact first.

  “Your trip is going to have to wait,” I said to Quaid. “I’m going to Europe. It’s time to talk to Femke.”

  Quaid wasn’t happy with me leaving him behind, especially when Piers insisted on joining me.

  “I need to know what’s happening with the Steam Union,” he said. “Just the two of us, in and out. Yes?”

  Honestly, I could use the backup. And though Quaid was already opening his mouth to protest, Zoe stepping away and hugging herself, resigned look on her face, I took the sorcerer up on his offer.

  “Mom,” I said, turning and gesturing her forward. “Take care of Zoe. We’ll be right back.” The last was aimed at Quaid. His scowl said we’d talk about this later.

  Okay then.

  This is risky, I sent to Piers as we stepped into the veil, his hand in mine. For all we know, Femke is compromised.

  Only one way to find out, he sent, his usual cheerful cheekiness dulled by worry.

  Right-o.

  My target destination appeared before me as I cut my way out the other side of the veil, traveling through it without solidifying where I was going until the last moment. Paranoid much? You betcha. Especially now, with so much at stake.

  The tall, stunning blonde behind the desk gasped and ran for me, arms wrapping around my neck, her pale blue eyes full of worry as Femke almost cracked a rib in her need to squeeze me.

  “Syd!” She let me go in a rush, making me wobble, off balance as she lunged for my sorcerer friend. “Piers.” From his wince she hugged him just as hard before spinning back on me. Her lean body quivered with emotion, face almost hollow with worry. “I’m so glad you’re all right. We feared the worst.”

  Did Femke know already? “We’re fine,” I said. “Though from the looks of things, we’re the only ones.”

  Her brow furrowed, her blue eyes darting back and forth between us. “Something is horribly wrong,” she said. “That’s all we know.” She scrubbed at her face with both slim, long fingered hands. “Approximately two days ago, we were abruptly cut off from the North American territory and there has been no communication in or out since.” Her lips thinned as she hunched her shoulders, sinking to sit on the end of her big desk. Warm overhead lights cast a pale yellow glow over her washed out face. The sky outside was dark, full night here four hours ahead at her headquarters in Oxford. “And worse,” she said, looking up at Piers, real grief in her eyes, “we’ve had no contact from the Steam Union despite our attempts to reach your mother.”

  I feared as much. “We have a lot to tell you,” I said. “And only a little time.” A great sense of urgency kept me from sitting in one of the comfortable chairs in her office. Instead, I took to my favorite stress time passion, pacing.

  Piers sank into a wing back as I proceeded to throw the whole mess into Femke’s lap. She gasped once, cheeks even paler than before, but heard me the whole way through before saying anything, as she always did.

  “The dull feeling,” she whispered. Coughed and cleared her throat, voice cracking. “You were right.”

  “Sassafras was.” I nodded, suddenly tired. I’d pushed myself to my limits and kept going, at least when it came to my magic. I had no idea how long it would take before I crashed. My invincible nature seemed to sustain me no matter how hard I shoved and kicked and scratched my way to the end. I only hoped that was still the case, even after all the energy I expended.

  “The Brotherhood own North America,” I said at last, coming to a halt before her. “We have to find a way to make sure that ownership is as short and painful for them as possible.”

  Femke lurched to her feet, circling her desk. “I’ll summon the other world leaders,” she said, voice shaking slightly, but with fierceness in every word, every gesture. “We’ll deal with this, Syd. I promise you.”

  I glanced down at Piers, only then noticing he had chewed one nail to the quick and was working on the next, squinting into the distance, mind elsewhere. I set one hand on his shoulder, catching his attention. “Do you want to try to find your mother?”

  He stood immediately, shaking his head, but not speaking.

  Femke’s worried expression told me she wished he’d said yes. Maybe I should have pushed him harder, but, like Mom said, the family came first.

  “Syd,” Femke returned around her desk and came to my side. “You know the Hayle coven has a refuge here. We are happy to help in any way we can.”

  I smiled at her, but the word “refuge” led to “refugee” in my head and I just couldn’t bend my pride enough to let that sit well. Not my coven. And besides, I’d already made my decision about taking back our home. I’d find them a safe place, somewhere neutral, where we were in control and not at the mercy of other witches.

  Did I say paranoid? Yup yup.

  “Thanks,” I said. “But I have it handled.”

  She hugged me again, embraced Piers one last time before stepping back. “It shouldn’t take long to assemble the leaders,” she said. “Give me until morning and, by the elements,
I’ll have them here or I’ll have their asses.”

  I saluted her, managing a grin. “No doubt,” I said. “Stay safe.”

  She shivered, hugged herself. “You too, my dear friend.”

  Piers’s hand squeezed mine as we stepped back into the veil.

  Where now? His mind was in a frenzy behind the thin veneer of calm he allowed me to feel. But he couldn’t hide from me.

  You’re sure about your mother? I didn’t want to deal with her, but maybe we should check in.

  I’m sure, he sent.

  Okay, I sent. Then there’s a few other stops I want to make. People to see. If you change your mind—

  I won’t. His refusal to talk about it made my mind up for me.

  With a resigned sigh, I pulled us through the veil in search of vampires.

  ***

  Chapter Eighteen

  I touched down on black carpet to the startled greeting of the Wilhelm blood clan monarchs. Sunny ran toward me, huge skirts rustling, Uncle Frank close behind her. I let the pair of them sandwich me in a hug and sank into the cool perfection of the vampires.

  After a moment, they released me, greeting Piers with a kind kiss to the cheek from Sunny and a handshake from my uncle. Before I even opened my mouth, I saw the stress on their faces and hated they were worried.

  “We’re fine,” I said. “The family, too.”

  Sunny looked surprised, then anxious. She and Uncle Frank exchanged a glance that told me I’d just made a massive assumption and now had other issues to worry about.

  “What happened?” The three of us spoke at the exact same time, the exact words and tone. How well we knew each other.

  “You first,” I said, tired of telling my story while Piers hung back, clearly lost in his own worries. “What’s going on?” Only then did I feel the discomfort in the air, the tension from the other court vampires watching us. Chambrelle Strait, Sunny’s human servant and daytime representative, joined us with a nod to me, her thick, red hair in a tight knot at the base of her neck. I always felt a little intimidated by her size, tall and broad shouldered, and wondered if she knew how to throw her weight around.