The Outcast

by Patti Larsen

  Besides, now more than ever I was firmly convinced she was the best person for the job.

  She did call on me to come and speak to the World Council about the situation with Max and the Fates, though she did it through her secretary and only spoke to me in her official capacity. At least she wasn’t mad enough at me she let it cloud her good judgment. And I felt better knowing everyone was finally paying attention to just how much trouble there was out there for us to get into.

  Weird, everyone getting along and playing nice. Made me feel like the end of everything might be coming after all.

  Max and the drach had fully recovered, and he sent his people scouring the Universe for clues as to where the pieces of Creator were hidden. A growing sense of urgency gripped me daily, but it was a game of hurry up and wait until we had a line on where to go looking. Considering I’m not the most patient person in the Universe, I think I was beginning to drive my family nuts with my mood swings and anxiety.

  The drach were looking for nine shiny needles in about a gazillion haystacks. At least, from what he told me, if one of the drach grew near they’d sense the soul of one of the nine guarding the pieces, so that was something. But they had to get really close, so I wasn’t holding my breath this particular tactic would pan out.

  At least Belaisle didn’t have a clue, either. As far as I knew. This kind of thinking was what kept me up at night. That and wondering over and over who in my family had betrayed me by sneaking into the statue chamber and stealing Creator’s heart.

  When not out flying around looking for chunks of their goddess, the drach were now permanently living in the Stronghold. Protecting it was more important now than ever before. Had I known the remains of Creator were at the base of the tower, I probably wouldn’t have let anyone in, whether the Stronghold saved our asses or not.

  Max had been kind enough—insert sarcasm here—to list off the pieces we were looking for. Like some cosmic shopping list, just great. The heart, naturally. We had to get it back. Eyes (shudder), brain (gag me), head, one ear, one arm, a hand, that missing foot and, though he had no idea how it was depicted in stone, Creator’s soul.

  Okay then.

  I distracted myself from my endless worry by focusing on other things that would surely give me an ulcer. Like Sebastian and Alison and their entire missing blood clan. No one could find them, feel a hint of them anywhere and I was beginning to worry something horrible had happened. I mentioned it to Max, about what we discussed, losing whole races to the other Universe, but he didn’t seem to think it would be possible for the transfer to be that specific.

  I wasn’t so sure.

  I had, as yet, to find time to take Gabriel to see Ameline. But I would when things settled down further. For some reason it felt necessary to me to have him meet her, to understand what really happened the night he opened the gateway to the other Universe. I hoped it would make taking his talent seriously easier on him. His sensitive nature was lovely and all, but I needed him to truly see just how dangerous his gift was. And, when he finally did come to realize it, I needed him tough enough to keep things together. Just in case Max and I required his particular talent somewhere down the line.

  Why did I get the feeling that might be sooner rather than later?

  One happy bit of news. Lula and Phon, once free agents under the employ of the Council, were now official members of the Hayle coven. They’d asked and I didn’t think twice, thrilled to have them. They seemed happy enough and the coven adored them, so I called it a win.

  Piers was gone with Zoe, his sister’s appearance the afternoon of Erica’s sentencing finally convincing him to try to do something about his mother. I hadn’t heard from him since, but I knew when he was ready he’d be in touch. Of course they added to my elevated blood pressure and worries. Eva was clearly at her breaking point. But he needed to do this and I wasn’t about to stop him.

  Family, right? Family was everything. Besides, I knew how she felt, in a way. Spending years on her own, without support, feeling alone. Just described my life. Without the family, I would have been a nutjob loner. So, I’d cut her some slack as long as she came around and didn’t do anything stupid.

  So far, according to Mom, all offers for Eva to join the World Council had been ignored point blank. Which meant I wasn’t holding out hope for the “anything stupid” part.

  Galleytrot wasn’t acting as upset as I expected and there were times when I found him staring into space, a doggy smile on his face. But when I asked him about it he would just shrug his big shoulders and lower his head into his paws, closing his eyes. Ignoring me. Fair enough. Whatever he’d done, he’d saved Mom from having to burn her old friend. And I loved him for that.

  Like I needed another reason.

  The kids didn’t even seem to realize we’d had a crisis, both of them still wound up about their days spent exploring the Stronghold. I let them have their happiness, just grateful they weren’t scarred for life like the rest of us. Still, it was hard not to stare at Gabriel’s sleeping face at night and wonder what might be coming for him.

  Or who.

  Tallah was back in California, prepared to rebuild and I sent Shenka with her to do it. My second tried to protest, that the family needed her, but I could tell she really wanted to go. In the end, Quaid insisted, taking over her second’s duties and I couldn’t have been prouder of him.

  But I had bigger plans for my husband and shared those niggling ideas with my mother one night over a quiet dinner with just the two of us. The stupid law that prevented Enforcers from marrying coven leaders had to go. And Mom agreed.

  Quaid was just too good at being an Enforcer to let him waste his talents. I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when I told him he could have both of his true loves again.

  Charlotte and Sage, Gram and Demetrius, all joined Tallah in California. I missed them like crazy, but was busy anyway integrating new witches and helping the coven adapt to their newly woken sorcery. It was going to take some time—and I was positive the normal townsfolk were going to notice the odd issue—but it was important everyone had the ability to protect themselves from now on.

  I just wished I’d thought of it sooner.

  My power resealed the cavern, emptied of the flotsam of our short time there. I shielded it yet again, just in case. Never knew when I would need a safe place to hide.

  Mom recruited Varity Rhodes to lead her new Enforcer order, and the older witch said yes. Though from the stoop of her shoulders she was looking forward to the day her replacement could be trained. Mom didn’t say anything, but I assumed she had a certain chocolate-eyed man in mind for the job and I wasn’t about to protest.

  Time for Quaid to make a mark of his own.

  The saddest part was the final headcount. Fully one third of all registered North American witches were either dead or still missing and presumed lost. According to most of the covens we talked to, they tried to surrender but were either killed outright and their power taken or herded into camps and siphoned over time. I stopped attending the meetings with Mom, hating to abandon her. But I just couldn’t listen anymore or my head would explode.

  I had to find Belaisle. Maybe I couldn’t kill his keyhole ass, but I could make him suffer.

  And suffer.

  No sign of Trill, which bothered me. I wondered where she and her friends had gotten off to. But Owen and Apollo stayed with us, helping me to train the coven in their sorcery. It was nice to have them around, even if I missed their troubled sister.

  Thankfully, the maji had decided to keep their nasty noses out of my business. I hadn’t heard word one from Zeon and Iepa seemed to think things had settled down, though there was still no word from the dark maji and the Fates were still blind to the future.

  I was working on it.

  The best news, by far? Simon came through for me. The day we returned to Wilding Springs, I found a note taped to a laptop on the kitchen table. It read, Fortune restored. Payment taken. Nice doing busin
ess with you.

  Now, if only I could find a way to restore our friendship, too.

  ###

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  ***

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  The Hayle Coven Destinies:

  Steam Union

  Chapter One

  I shifted uncomfortably in the wobbly folding chair, doing my best to keep the polite smile on my face though my lips and cheeks ached from it. Shenka hustled around the basement making last-minute adjustments, and I wished she’d just come sit down next to me already.

  Bad enough I had over fifty witches staring at me, waiting for me to say something. I could use the support.

  The space was better lit than usual, my chair on the edge of the pentagram, witches from covens all around North America crowded into the area in a rough circle, packed in layers of bodies. My toe scuffed over the painted white line, eyes roving over the old lamps Shenka dug out of the mess and set up to cast pale yellow light around the basement. We usually made due with the single bulb over the center of the room, and I found I kind of missed the shadows. This much brilliance seemed to dim the wonder I always held for this place, making it feel chintzy, somehow, almost like a carnival sideshow instead of the base of my family’s magic.

  So many memories down here. They crowded around me almost as much as the anxious, waiting witches. Of discomfort, unhappiness at first, sneaking my nutjob grandmother sweets to keep her quiet during coven rituals, welcoming Dad from his home plane, Demonicon, to ours. The anguish of forcing myself to use magic as a teenager though it often made me ill. Uncovering the truth of who I was, taking over my coven after freeing Gram’s power from where she’d hidden it inside me.

  The years pressed down on my shoulders, made me feel old suddenly. A funny concept for a woman who would supposedly live forever. I had no idea what old really was. And yet, sitting here with my hands fidgeting in my lap, tension mounting with the scrutiny of my witch peers, I felt every single second of my existence like a weight on my heart.

  I knew why they were here, in Wilding Springs, in my basement. Why all the coven leaders—or, the majority of them, anyway—and their seconds perched with eager worry, arriving in pairs and quartets without notice until my basement was flooded with them and their nervous magic.

  Thank goodness for Shenka. As she finally settled beside me, her own smile easy, more practiced than mine, I reached out and squeezed her hand in thanks before drawing a breath to speak. No idea what I was going to say. But I had to say something.

  “I can guess why you’ve come.” They bobbed their heads at me, pressure of their intense focus increasing. I shifted under the stress and went on. “Our people have suffered terrible losses and we’re still afraid.”

  “We have the right to be.” Karyn Barrett, new leader of the Barrett coven, nodded sharply, her dark hair in a tight ponytail, her thick, blonde bangs wavering over her hazel eyes. The first time we’d met had been under terrible circumstances, at the Stronghold, just after Lula and Phon Kennecott helped rescue what remained of her coven. “And no offense to the new Council, but we’re not seeing a whole lot of progress to guarantee our safety.”

  Murmurs and more nods.

  You need to cut this off at the pass. A silver ball of fluff wound his way through the chairs, accepting affectionate pats and full body strokes before coming to my side. The big Persian leaped into my lap, curling his thick tail around his paws, amber eyes scanning the crowd. The last thing we need is someone suggesting mutiny against the Council.

  I know that, I sent, testy with Sassafras. The demon in the body of the cat purred softly, easing my tension a hair.

  And I know you do, he sent, much more gently. This is a tricky bit of business, Syd.

  Tell me about it. “I know the Council is working hard to find ways to protect us,” I said out loud to the waiting witches. “But Liander Belaisle and his Brotherhood have gone underground again. We all know how hard it is to uncover sorcerers when they don’t want to be found.”

  After the havoc he’d wreaked against our territory, killing off over a third of the witch population and stealing not only their family power, but that of the Council, Belaisle had more than enough to answer for. And that was just this time around. I had older hurts to lay at his feet.

  “So they say,” Tallah Hensley spoke up. Shenka’s sister was thinner than the last time I saw her, leaned out face hardened, posture stiff. My second twitched next to me. Shenka had only just returned to my side after spending four weeks assisting her sister in rebuilding the Hensley coven in California. The last fourteen days Shenka had been home felt like walking on eggshells with her, but I hardly blamed her. We were all pushed to our limits these days.

  “I have our Council Leader’s personal assurance,” I said. “She’s working without rest to find ways to ensure our safety and that of our families.”

  “If only Miriam had been Council Leader when this all fell apart.” Dagney Rhodes choked a soft sob into the handful of tissues she clutched to her lips.

  “It never would have happened in the first place,” Paula Santos snapped at her, olive skin tight in anger. These were all new faces, their names coming to me slowly. I knew their mothers and grandmothers far better. But those women I’d once called my peers were dead and gone, lost to the takeover of our territory by the Brotherhood six weeks ago.

  Six weeks. I still couldn’t believe it had only been so long.

  More mutterings, some of agreement, though Tallah spoke up again.

  “Miriam Hayle is an excellent leader,” she said, sounding like she didn’t mean a word. “But, she herself has been thralled, under the influence of the Brotherhood. At this point, frankly, she just can’t be trusted.”

  I wanted to slap her. How dare she attack my mother like that? But I held back, drew on the strength of my vampire essence for calm while my demon paced and snarled. The hitchhikers I carried in my head, their power mingling with mine, were a source of great comfort to me, now more than ever. The younger me would have lost her temper, flown off the handle, started a fight I’d win if it killed someone. But, thanks to Shenka, motherhood and my alter egos, I’d managed to mellow just a little bit. Enough I simply glared at Tallah instead of showing her just what I thought of her opinion.

  Because, the truth was—and it hurt, oh, did it hurt—the Hensley leader was right.

  Damn it.

  “Our covens are depleted,” Karyn said, young face pinched and aged beyond her twenty-four years. I’d gotten to know her a little, liked her a lot. She had a good head on her shoulders. I was more likely to listen to her than Tallah at this moment and gave her my full attention. “It will take generations to rebuild our numbers. But even if we were to replace every single witch we’ve lost, we’re still at a terrible disadvantage.” She swallowed hard, hands twisting in her lap. The scent of fear filled the room, a sharp tang of physical anxiety. “We’re vulnerable and we know it, now.”

  I agreed with that much. Without sorcery to counter sorcery, the other paranormal races didn’t stand a chance. The first magic could only be fought with more of the same. Which was why Belaisle and his Brotherhood managed to not only sway the old Council Leader, Erica Plower, into signing a treaty that gave them power over the territory, but to do as much damage as they did in such a short time.

  “I’m sorry we just showed up.” Karyn looked guilty, then, glancing sideways at the unrepentant Tallah. Was I going to have to keep an eye on Shenka’s sister? The rage in her seemed to grow by the minute. And while I liked Tallah, had called her an ally in the past, she and I had fought over Shenka’s choice to be my second and had butted heads over other issues that kept us from being true friends. The loss of the bulk of her coven to the Brotherhood hit her hard, clearly. Still, that was
no excuse to abandon good judgment.

  I nodded to Karyn, let it go. I was glad Quaid was out, frankly, that Dad had the kids at Harvard with Mom. This little impromptu meeting wasn’t sanctioned by the Council and was making me more nervous by the minute. But what was I supposed to do when they just popped up out of nowhere in the arms of ex-Enforcers, returned to their families in disgrace, and dropped themselves in my lap?

  “I understand your concerns,” I said, reaching for all the diplomacy I’d absorbed from the responsible people in my life over the years.

  “Do you?” Tallah was shaking a bit, jaw tight. “You didn’t lose one witch, did you?”

  They watched me with hurt and fearful eyes. But what was I supposed to say?

  “We were fortunate,” I said. “And grateful.”

  “We’re not blaming you for anything, Syd.” Karyn shot Tallah a glance and the Hensley leader looked away. “Please, understand that. In fact, we’re happy at least one family survived intact. And that you were there to save us.”

  I’d spent most of my life railing against the closed-minded arrogance and head-in-the-sand attitude of witches. Her unexpected announcement made me pause and blush. But Karyn wasn’t done.

  “We came here outside the knowledge of the North American Witches Council for a reason.” A small smile warmed her face, took away the taut bleakness. “We need your help.”

  I couldn’t protect them all, if that was what they wanted.

  Pay attention, Sassafras snapped in my head. This is important.

  Dagney Rhodes pushed her blonde hair behind one ear, round cheeks pink with a flush of emotion. “We know discord is the last thing we need right now.” At least someone understood it. We had to work together, to trust each other. Our separate ways, the privacy witches clung to, the secrecy, had to stop. At least to the point we could go to each other with problems and ask for help without losing face. “But our numbers are so reduced.” The Rhodes coven had once been over two hundred witches, now down to just over twenty. I knew personally. I saved them from the Brotherhood the same day their beloved leader, Violet, was killed. “And we are helpless if the Brotherhood returns to finish us off.”