The wand went to the pocket and tucked itself inside.
Sally said, “Hmm. Getting too smart for its own good. It can be useful that it throws flame. Big flame, if that’s what you want. Remember that.”
“I’m carrying a flame thrower,” Elin said slowly. “In my pocket.”
“Every girl should have one,” Sally said with a big, forced smile.
Elin had no doubt Sally was trying to lift her spirits but felt no better. “I’m going away from here,” she said.
“I expected that,” Sally said, crossing her arms. “You’re being called home, and by the time you get back here, we can hope our werehound friends will have decided you are not the enemy.”
“I’m not coming back.”
“You and Sean are sealed.” A deep frown furrowed Sally’s brow.
Elin put another log on the fire. She had started to shiver again. “We will always be sealed,” she said with difficulty. “That can’t change. But we can’t be together now—maybe never if I cause him and his brothers pain.”
“Does he know you are Deseran?”
“I told him tonight. At first he was sad that I’d kept it from him, but he understood. Then he was glad, probably because he thought it was safer for me. Now, Leigh…” Her words trailed away. “I won’t force him to stay with me when it will worry him so much.”
Sally snorted. “Force him? He can’t stay away from you and now he doesn’t have to. You’re sealed.”
“He has to stay away if he can’t find me. I have to find out about myself, about all the ones like me. I want to prove I am not a creature who can be manipulated—by the Fae Queen or anyone.”
Sally looked skeptical.
“You don’t think I can do it,” Elin said. “With your help, I can.”
A thump came from the porch, and a cry that stopped abruptly.
Elin and Sally stared at each other. “I expected Sean to send one of the werehounds to check up on me,” Elin said. “But—”
“But that was a cry of pain and it was from a woman.” Sally snapped off the lights while Elin edged the door open.
Lying on her back, her face twisted toward them, lay Cassie, the woman they had rescued from The Island. Her eyes were dull with pain but she reached a hand toward the two women.
Sounds in the woods suggested someone was moving rapidly through the trees, away from them.
With Sally’s help, Elin dragged Cassie inside. They got her onto the couch, where she writhed, tossing her entire body from side to side.
Her thin arms were purple from the cold and the marks where the manacles had been showed clearly. Her long, dark hair hung in wet, matted clumps.
Sally pulled the quilt around the woman and turned her onto her side. The circular red mark was on her neck, beneath the dark hair. It was also the faintest either of them had seen.
“He came for me,” Elin said suddenly. “The One. He thought Cassie was me.”
“He would have taken her if that were so.”
“Not if all he was trying to do was make a chance to get Sean. He would expect Sean to come looking for me, then snatch him. If he still wanted me, he could come back later.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” Sally said, still studying the mark while Cassie moaned.
“Yes, I can,” Elin told her. And she could. She saw The One’s plan clearly. “When I touched the mark on Molly, it felt as if it was drawn to me. As if I was a magnet and could pull it out, only I was too late and she was already dead.”
She reached her hand past Sally and settled her fingertips on the red mark. “It looks more like a Q than an O,” she said.
“An O would be for The One,” Sally pointed out.
Elin’s fingers fastened against Cassie’s skin as if they were fused there. A soft current of air slipped around them and Elin saw, for the first time in too long, the sparkling colors of the phenomenon Sally and Leigh called The Veil. Like a surreal, glitter-painted rainbow, the colors swept in an arc over them, then curled around the whole room.
“It is here for you,” Sally said. “Take handfuls from the green. Keep it with you. You’ll know if you need it.”
“I know about the green,” Elin said. “I have used it before.” Her fingers sprang free of Cassie’s neck and the mark had dissipated. It didn’t float away, or attach itself to Elin, but simply evaporated and Cassie stopped tossing.
“Take the green now,” Sally said.
Elin swept both hands into pools of shifting green, felt the weightless substance harden into solid balls, and thrust them into another pocket in her parka.
“Cassie?” Elin said. “Why were you outside?”
Shivering, Cassie spoke through chattering teeth. “There was such anger at you and Sean. I didn’t really understand but it made me sad because it’s so wrong. I wanted to see if I could help you somehow. I saw Sean come into the house from outside and I followed his footsteps here. I don’t know why I collapsed like that. There was a lot of pain.”
“You’ll sleep now,” Sally said.
“If he’d intended to kill her, she’d be dead,” Elin said dispassionately. “I’m dangerous as long as I’m here. The One wants Sean and he’ll use me to get at him. I will not put Sean in any more danger—I can’t.”
Sally straightened and looked into Elin’s eyes. “Do you know where you’re going?”
“Away from here. That’s what Niles meant when he said I knew what I had to do. He didn’t know why but he was right.”
“But where? You do know, don’t you?”
Elin took a long breath through her nose and checked Cassie, who had fallen into a deep sleep. “This is only for you and me to know—and Leigh if that’s what you decide. If it’s meant to be, I’ll be able to come back one day. But now I must go to New Orleans.”
Sally smiled a little. “And what will you ask the person you go to see?”
“You know it’s a man,” Elin said. “I do, too. I want to find out the story of the Deseran. Who we are. What we are. How we should live and fit into the world…and whether we are dangerous to others and should exile ourselves. Most of all, I hope he can tell me how to keep Sean safe from The One…and perhaps how to make all the danger go away.”
“That’s a lot to hope for.” Sally shook her head but her expression was soft. “Perhaps you’re right. You need an oracle. You said you can travel. How far?”
“I’ve never gone so very far,” Elin admitted. “I’ve barely traveled a mile or so.”
“Do you want to fly? On a plane, I mean?”
Elin’s violet eyes widened in horror. “I don’t have the time that would take.” She hadn’t tried since the episode on The Island but she had thought about it and decided it was probably the shapeshifting Tarhazian had interfered with, and the invisibility had been messed up when she made the involuntary change back into human form. Elin believed she could still fly. And when she could be sure of remaining alone long enough, she would attempt to revisit Skillywidden, but not now. “I’d rather fly by myself,” she said firmly.
Sally smiled. “Good girl. But this time you’re going a long way and you’ll be glad of your light dress when you arrive, especially since you have to wear the parka for most of the journey. If you get tired or feel weak, rest. You’ll know if you need to do that.” She pulled a scarf from around her neck, retrieved the contents of Elin’s pockets, and twisted them inside. This she tied around Elin’s waist. “I don’t think you will need this, but it knows its role and might be useful. When you get where you’re going, you’ll find a man who has seen too much. He understands needing answers and knows more than you or I ever shall.”
“How will I know him?”
“He will know you. You’ll arrive outside an antique shop called J. Clive Millet on Royal Street, and when you have gone inside and climbed all the way to the attic, you will find Jude Millet. He has seen a great deal and knows a great deal. He is the ancient oracle of the Millet family. He will expect you.”
<
br /> chapter TWENTY-FIVE
You’re not an obstetrician,” Niles told Saul. “I should never have agreed to let you look after Leigh.”
“You didn’t,” Saul said calmly. “She made that decision. In a few days, if she’s willing, take her to Seattle for another opinion. I expected this. You almost made me believe you trusted me after all we went through together. But old superstitions don’t die easily.”
“I regard you as…as a trusted acquaintance,” Niles said. “That doesn’t mean I want you responsible for this child Leigh and I are expecting.”
Sean turned his back on the pair and on the rest of the hounds. Elin shouldn’t be alone up at the cottage yet he couldn’t talk to Niles about their sealing while Leigh and the baby were in danger, and neither could he send one of the other hounds to guard Elin.
He felt the seconds and minutes pass. It had already been more than half an hour since he left her. And he’d caused her pain—she would be uncomfortable. Damn, he’d been so eager to accept Leigh’s idea, so eager to be with Elin completely, he had rushed into a situation that was dangerous now.
He had to try to reach her telepathically. “Elin are you all right?” They hadn’t had a lot of experience communicating but they had already discovered they could. “Say something, Elin. I’ll come back.”
Without looking at the others, he started toward the hall.
“How is Leigh?”
“We’re not sure yet.” He wouldn’t dwell on both women being Deseran and the new uncertainty that brought while they waited to see how Leigh fared.
“Sally’s with me. There’s no need for you to come. Stay there and help.”
“Good, I’m glad she arrived.” At the steadiness of Elin’s voice, relief swamped him. “Tell me if you need me.”
“I will if I do. I won’t. I’ll always love you, Sean.”
“Me, too,” he said and he felt her mind move away. He could hardly summon the memory of how he felt before he loved Elin—he didn’t want to.
Saul’s still voice reached him. “You called me, Niles. Now you want someone else to see her. How will you manage that tonight? Take her through freezing skies to Seattle, not knowing where you’re going and who you’ll try to see? Go to Emergency at a hospital you don’t know where you don’t know if you’ll get the best help for the job?”
“I wouldn’t take her anywhere. Someone must come here.”
Sean looked at Saul’s pale, cold face and swallowed. He prayed the vampire wouldn’t just leave.
Saul had already been with Niles when Sean entered the room. After they returned from The Island, the vampire had left for home. Now he was back again but he couldn’t have arrived long ago.
“Let Saul go to Leigh,” Sean snapped. Blood started to pound at his temples. “Are you going to let her die just because you can’t let go of your prejudices long enough to help her? You know Saul is on our side.”
Niles turned his attention to Sean and for an instant he visibly prepared to attack.
“Out of my way,” Saul said, pushing past Niles. He headed for the corridor to Niles and Leigh’s bedroom. “Better get on the phone and start looking for that second opinion,” he said. “But keep it down out here and keep it calm—for Leigh’s sake.”
Ethan and Campion looked anxiously from Niles to Sean. Hovering at one side of the room, they both had their hands in the pockets of their jeans and repeatedly aimed their eyes at the floor. These two and Innes were part of the original Team that had worked together in Afghanistan. Innes had been the contract group’s communications expert.
Starting to pace, Ethan glared at each of the others in turn. He stopped suddenly and pointed at Sean, who was afraid the other man was about to blurt out where he’d found Sean and Elin, and at the least appropriate moment.
“You’ve helped with deliveries,” he said. “And miscarriages.”
Sean heard Campion and Innes groan. Tact wasn’t one of Ethan’s strengths.
Sean was the Team medic. On Whidbey he worked with the volunteer fire department.
“Get in there,” Ethan said. “You, too, Niles. Leigh needs to have you with her.”
Sean went without hesitation. He should have offered help anyway but hadn’t wanted to get in Saul’s way unless asked. Niles arrived at the bedroom door a couple of seconds later.
With her eyes shut, Leigh lay flushed and motionless. Saul finished reading her temperature and said, “Get this thing off the bed,” plucking at a thick down comforter.
Stumbling in his hurry, Niles hauled off the bedcover and threw it into a corner.
“How long have you felt like this?” Saul asked Leigh.
“It started when I woke up in the morning, but—”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Niles said, sitting down on the bed with a thump and immediately leaping up again. “We could have got help hours and hours ago.”
“I didn’t feel really bad until early evening. Then you went off like a wild man and you wouldn’t listen to a thing I said.”
“But you went out in that freezing mess outside?” Sean said to Leigh. He couldn’t help himself. “And you…you did too much, didn’t you?”
She looked miserable and shrugged slightly. “I guess so, but this was going to happen and get worse.”
“Now you’re going to have to rest,” Saul said. “You chose a bad time to overdo things. It’s a good thing you’re strong. Drink lots of fluids—and you’ll drink them even though you won’t want to. Niles will make sure of that. And sponge her with cool water to help keep her temperature down. If it gets too high, we’ll rethink that.”
Sean began to understand what Saul was suggesting; at least, he hoped he did.
“What’s happened?” Niles said. “Tell me now. This was going to happen anyway, Leigh? And you never told me?”
“I didn’t know,” Leigh said. “Who knows they’re going to get the flu and not just a cold?” She watched her mate’s face grow incredulous and shook her head. “Good grief, you just jumped to the worst conclusion you could come up with, didn’t you?”
“You didn’t say anything about flu,” Niles protested.
Leigh blinked feverish eyes. “You didn’t tell me you thought I was losing the baby. I said I wasn’t well, that’s all.”
chapter TWENTY-SIX
Striding across snow that cracked like ice, Sean made for the steps and the bluff. It wasn’t so funny that Niles had been terrified for Leigh. He knew nothing about pregnancies and anyone could have rushed to the wrong conclusion.
Sean grinned, remembering the expression on Niles’s face when he realized the truth.
Poor Leigh looked as if she felt horrible and Niles didn’t look much better. If he got the same thing as Leigh, he would be unbearable.
Sean’s phone rang when he reached the bottom step.
Cliff Ames’s voice surprised him. “We’ve got a big problem, Sean. I tried to reach Sally but I can’t find her. Someone’s going to have to scrape Gabriel off the rafters. He’s got the police here and he’s still ranting about Molly.”
Elin had been right not to want to hide the truth about the woman’s death. Sean cleared his throat. “You can’t blame him. This is—God, it’s awful. I take it you haven’t told Gabriel you helped Sally take Molly to Phoebe’s?”
“If I did, it would kill him. He’d want the rest of the details. Then he’d think I betrayed him. Don’t make me be the one to do that. The man took me on when no one else was interested. He’s my best friend.”
“What made Gabriel lose it tonight?”
Cliff took a while to answer. “The guy at the gas station came in to Gabriel’s. He said he’d been questioned because someone told the police Molly was left at his place to get help with her car. He thinks they suspect him of doing something to Molly. Gabriel’s mad at the cops, mad at everyone. He listens to you. I thought you’d want to come.”
Sean wanted to go to Gabriel, but not until he’d talked to Sally, Saul, and th
e others.
And he couldn’t do a thing about any of it until he had Elin safely at his side. “I’ll come when I can,” he told Cliff.
“But Gabriel trusts you. You’ll be able to help him. Please come.”
Cliff was a reserved man but his attachment to Gabriel was no secret. Sean wanted to go and help them but his hands were tied.
“Let the police do their thing, Cliff. I can’t leave right now—”
“Sure you can. You have to.” Cliff breathed heavily. “We need you, Sean. I told him I’d call you.”
Oh, great. “Tell him we’ve got problems. Leigh’s not well.” He hated using her as an excuse but it was the best he had. “I’ll call him. In the meantime, take care of things for me.” He clicked off before Cliff could say anything else.
Slipping and sliding, he climbed the rest of the steps.
Smoke still rose from one of the chimneys at Two Chimneys, but in a much thinner and intermittent stream. Elin might have decided to go to bed. Sean hoped she had and intended to join her there.
He had the key to the cottage now and let himself in. “Hi, Elin,” he called so she wouldn’t be nervous. “It’s Sean, sweetheart.”
She wasn’t upstairs. He could see her in a curled ball on the couch, the quilt wrapped around her.
“There you are, Sean. I’ve been expecting you.” Sally came from the kitchen with a steaming mug in her hand. “Take this coffee. I’ll get some more in a minute. Sit down. How’s Leigh? Tell me she’ll be okay.”
“She’s got the flu. A really bad case. Niles jumped to the wrong conclusion. He was out of his mind. But I think Leigh will be fine. She didn’t tell him what she thought was going on and Niles didn’t tell her. They’re so busy protecting each other, they’re only causing trouble.”
Sally started to laugh but stopped abruptly. She stared at the coffee in her hand and held it out to Sean.
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