by Bonnie Lamer
“Okay,” she says and the tremor in her voice tells me that she’s getting how serious this is. “Should I pack anything?”
“NO! Just go!” Mom yells. Nope, not much air left in that balloon.
Aunt Barb gasps in shock but she doesn’t ask any more questions. “Alright, we’re on our way out now. Zac, get your shoes and your coat, we have to go.”
We can hear Zac in the background asking his own questions but Aunt Barb shushes him. I can imagine the pouty look on his face after being scolded for asking reasonable questions. I feel horrible that he has to go through all this because of me. No, because of Grandpa.
“Zac, shoes, now,” Aunt Barb tells him and then we hear her sharp intake of breath. “Jim, there’s someone at the door. What do I do?”
Five voices answer her at once. “Don’t answer it!”
“Barb, can you go out the fire escape?” Dad asks with panic in his voice.
“I don’t know. Zac,” she whispers, “we need to try to go out the fire escape.”
“Cool!” we hear Zac say and a smile tries to touch my lips but I’m too worried about them for it to get very far.
“Okay, I’m trying to get the window open now. It’s stuck. Zac, come here and help me.” We hear them struggling to get the window open and a little pop tells us when they’re successful.
“Barb, look below, is there anyone there?” Dad instructs.
After a second, she gasps. “There’s a rather large man staring up here.”
“They’re trapped,” Kallen says grimly.
It’s the Fairies all over again. They’re going to use my brother, and my aunt this time, to try to get me to surrender to them. And I’m an hour and a half away so I can’t do anything about it.
Aunt Barb begins whispering frantically into the phone. “Oh god, Jim, someone just opened the door. Zac, get in the closet. Hurry!”
The closet? That’s the first place they’ll look. My eyes close in defeat because I know it’ll be any minute now that they’re captured. For several long heartbeats, all we can hear is Aunt Barb’s jagged breaths as she tries to swallow her fear.
Every second that passes increases the amount of magic that is saturating my body. My ears are straining to hear the telltale sounds that will tell us that Zac and Aunt Barb have been found as my body prepares for a fight that’s too far away to win. Every nerve ending I have is tingling and suddenly my mind is aglow with a burning white light that sears through me. My eyes open like shutters and my voice forces my mouth to open for the scream that pierces the air. I can’t see the kitchen, I can’t see the four people in the room with me, all I can see is white and it’s blinding me but my eyes refuse to close.
I’m being pulled forward, a tugging that starts around my middle, as the light begins to fade and my eyes start to focus. I’m not in my kitchen any longer. I’m in Denver. And directly in front of me is the source of my wrath. Maeva. Grandpa. Louhi. The looks on their faces tell me they weren’t expecting me.
Maeva gasps. “We didn’t tell you to come.”
Like snakes uncoiling, three ropes of light lash out and find their targets. “I am not a dog; I can come and go as I please.” Pain races across their faces, contorting Louhi’s into something resembling a caricature of a monster right out of a B horror movie.
Grandpa is fumbling with something around his neck as he fights the pain. “Invoke the spell!” he shouts to get the attention of the other two. Maeva is on the ground now but Louhi is still struggling to stand like Grandpa. As a surge of energy rushes through me, they are both forced to their knees.
Finally, Grandpa has freed a necklace from his collar that looks to be made of silver, amber and iron. A Fairy repellant. I know that one because Mom gave me one to protect me from the Fairies. Oh, he’s going to be mad when he figures out that those don’t work on me. “Fire and air surround, earth and water abound. I in She and She in me, true goddess of the earth and sea, protect us from this Fae so foul, shield us from her reckless power.”
Okay, first of all, that last part didn’t rhyme. And second, who is he to call me foul? Now I’m really mad. I focus my thoughts on the talisman he holds in his hand and Grandpa falls backwards as it explodes, trying to shield himself from the flames. “I am so tired of you thinking you’re better than me! If anyone is foul, it’s you three. All I’m trying to do is live my life but you guys come after me like I’ve set a house of kittens on fire or something! Alright, if you want a fight, you’ve got it. But you will leave my Aunt and my brother alone. If you harm one spec on their body, I won’t even bother trying to hold back my magic because this,” I gesture at the lights that are keeping them glued to their spots, “is nothing compared to what I can do if I get really mad. Now sleep.” Instantly, three bodies tumble to the ground in a heap, sound asleep.
“Aunt Barb, Zac, you can come out now!” I call. I’m not sure which room they’re in.
“Xandra!” I hear Zac call and suddenly he’s bounding down the hall towards me. He stops short when his mind finally registers what he’s seeing. “You’re glowing.” There’s more admiration in his voice than fear. “Why are you glowing? Are you a ghost now, too?” How much does it say about our lives that he would be so calm and accepting about that?
“No, but I’m not really here, either. Just my mind is.”
His eyes light up with excitement. “Can I do that?”
I can’t help but be amused. “No, sorry.”
Aunt Barb has joined him in the hallway. “Xandra, you’re astral projecting! I knew it could be done.” She has been working on that theory since Mom and Dad became ghosts and she had positive proof that spirits can survive outside the body. “I wish I had my equipment here.”
Even with all the craziness going on, she’s still a scientist at heart. “You two need to hurry. Get in your car and drive home as fast as the roads will let you.”
“What about them?” She gestures to the sleeping bodies on the floor.
“They’ll be out for as long as I’m here and if the other one is at the back of the building, he shouldn’t see you leave. But I don’t know how long he’ll wait before he comes looking for his friends, so go, now.”
She nods and hurries to the front closet to get their coats. She throws Zac his dark blue and gray Columbia ski jacket and she slips into her heavy beige trench coat. When they finally have their boots, hats and gloves on, I shoo them out the door. I’m not going anywhere until I at least know they’re on the road to safety. It’s going to be a long hour and a half waiting for them to arrive back at the house.
As I watch them get into the car from the front apartment window, I begin to feel my rage lessen. My skin isn’t tingling anymore and the ropes of light have recoiled. It’s time to go back home.
Chapter 13
Did I mention how disconcerting it is to pass out one place and wake up another? I think I’m on the couch this time and I’m seriously debating whether or not I want to open my eyes. I don’t want to know what I did to the house this time. Plus, keeping my eyes closed allows me to eavesdrop on the hushed conversation Kallen and Grandma seem to be having.
“This shouldn’t be happening.”
“Whether it should be or not, it is. How do we make it stop?”
“I don’t know. In all my years, this has never happened. We knew that when we fell that our connection wouldn’t be as strong. It should be a protection circle, nothing more.”
“But she has not fallen. Therein may lay the problem.”
“No, it shouldn’t make a difference. Her blood should be weakened regardless.”
“Has there ever been such a magical mixing of blood?”
I crack my eyes open just a tiny bit because Grandma doesn’t answer him right away. The two of them are in the corner of the room with their heads together, which looks odd because Kallen is a foot taller than she is so his shoulders are stooped way over. I wonder what the chances are they’ll keep talking when they find out I’m awake?
Which I find out right away, because Kallen turns his head before I have a chance to close my eyes. I never was very sneaky. It only takes him two strides to get to the couch and he kneels down next to me. “Do you think you could manage to go a little longer between attempts to drive us out of our minds with worry?” He smiles but the worry lines on his forehead tell me just how concerned he has been.
“Sorry, I have to meet my quota. If I don’t do it at least three times a day, they’ll revoke my magic license.”
His eyebrows rise skeptically. “And who, exactly, would give you a license to practice magic?”
“I have connections in high places. I am related to kings, you know.”
His smile is a little brighter now and inclines his head. “Yet you deign to be in the company of a lowly peasant such as myself. How fortunate I am.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Grandma says softly over Kallen’s shoulder, “but how are you feeling, dear?”
“Other than a bit of a headache, I feel fine. How long have I been out?”
Kallen pushes a strand of hair behind my ear. “Only an hour this time. Just long enough for me to reverse your wild magic.”
I groan. “What did I do this time?”
Grandma gives him a dirty look. “Nothing that couldn’t be fixed.” Turning back to me, she says, “The important thing is figuring out what happened to you.”
I sit up slowly and put a hand to my aching head. “I went to Denver.”
A vein on the side of Kallen’s head starts to throb as his face contorts in anger. “Did they scry for you again with a stronger spell?”
I shake my head but that makes it hurt more so I immediately stop. “No, apparently, I can go without them doing that.”
He shoots Grandma a questioning look and she shrugs her shoulders. Apparently, she didn’t know that I could do that, either. Maybe Grandma should have looked into this whole protection spell thing a little bit more before having me start marking trees with my blood.
“So, any chance you two want to tell me what you were whispering about?”
Kallen’s face immediately becomes blank. Grandma tries for the same look but it’s those worry lines around the eyes that give her a way. My own face sets like stone. “Uh huh, that’s what I thought.” I push off the couch to make a dramatic exit. And, of course, I fall right back against the cushions which makes my head hurt even more. If Kallen let’s that smirk he’s fighting against surface, I swear I’m going to kick him in the shins.
“Perhaps you should lie down for a few more minutes,” Grandma says. She looks relieved to have something come up to change the subject.
“Fine.” But I’m not happy about it. “Where are Mom and Dad?”
“Your mother is looking for any sign of your Grandfather or the Witan. We figured they must be close if they scried for you again.”
“No, they were all in Denver going after Zac and Aunt Barb. How do you think they found them?”
Grandma’s lips slam together in a grim line for a moment before she answers. “Because they do not really entirely on their magic to find some people. They also use high tech gadgets such as phone bugs. Your grandfather planted one while he was here.”
My face can’t even begin to contort in a way that would show exactly how shocked and angry I am. “And you waited until now to bring this up? Don’t you think we should have known they did things like this before we let them listen in on our phone calls? You put Aunt Barb and Zac in danger!” I didn’t even realize that I had stood up and stalked Grandma across the room until her back hit the wall. I flinch when Kallen puts his hands on my shoulders to keep me from getting closer to her.
“Xandra, your father has already been through this with your grandmother,” he says gently pulling me back into him and putting his arms around my waist. I’m not sure if it’s a sign of affection or restraint. Probably both considering how volatile I’ve been the last two days.
“I am so sorry. It never even dawned on me that they would use anything other than magic. I’m afraid I’ve kept myself too ignorant of the methods they use to track errant Witches.”
I can’t help asking, “What, exactly, have you paid attention to over the last eighteen years?”
She looks like her spirit has left her as her shoulders sag and the weight of all her years show on her face like a treasure map of tragedy. “Hardly anything,” she says just above a whisper.
Well, how can I stay mad at her now that she looks so pathetic? I growl in frustration and walk out of Kallen’s arms. I keep walking until I reach the bathroom and I go in and slam the door. I turn the water in the sink on and lean my hands on the counter and my forehead against the cool of the mirror. Several deep breaths later and I can start pushing the magic that had rushed into me back into the earth.
It doesn’t take long for there to be a knock on the door. “Go away,” I growl. I don’t know if it is Kallen or Grandma, and the moment, I don’t care. I need a couple of minutes alone. Whoever it is doesn’t knock again.
I’m not even sure why I’m crying. I thought I had come to terms with this whole mess. Apparently not.
An icy cold hand touches my back. “Honey, are you alright?”
I push back so I’m standing up straight and wipe my eyes before meeting Mom’s in the mirror. I’m always amazed that she has a reflection since most light goes right through her instead of being reflected. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just kinda lost it for a minute.”
“Considering what you’ve been through recently, I’ve been impressed by how you’ve stood up under the pressure. But I’m also concerned that you feel like you have to be stoical all the time. It’s okay to let your feelings out like this. You don’t have to keep it all bottled up.”
“I know.” I wipe the last of the tears away and try to smile.
Mom lays her chilly hand on my cheek and it feels good. “Do you think you could tell us what happened? Are Aunt Barb and Zac okay?”
That’s right, I haven’t told them anything yet. “Yes, they’re fine. They’re on their way here. But Mom, can I have just a few minutes before I sit down with everyone?”
“Certainly. Now that I know your brother is okay, I can wait a few minutes for the details. You have Kallen awfully worried, though. I think he’s going to wear holes in the floor if he keeps pacing as he has been. But, I am impressed by how much he seems to care about you.”
A real smile touches my lips. “I told you he’s a nice guy.”
Mom chuckles. “Let’s just say he has his moments and leave it at that. I’m going to let your father know that Zac and his sister are fine. You come out when you’re ready.” She floats back through the door leaving me to collect myself.
I splash some cold water on my face and brush my teeth again. Everything feels better if you have clean teeth. With a last deep breath and look in the mirror to make sure my eyes aren’t too puffy, I open the door to face the rest of the day.
Chapter 14
Mom’s right, Kallen is going to pace a hole through the floor. It takes him a moment before he realizes I’m in the room and when he does, he comes to a halt. “How are you?” he asks.
Somehow, I’m able to muster a real smile and he visibly relaxes. “Ready for the next fight.”
“How about you fill in the details of the last one before starting on the next,” Dad says from the counter near the stove. Grandma made coffee and he’s soaking in the scent. Dad really misses food.
“Okay.” Grabbing a banana off the counter first, I sit down at the table and fill them in on my trip to Denver.
Dad’s the first one to speak. “So, you can project your consciousness wherever you want?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I haven’t tried to go anywhere else unless the Witan scried for me.”
He looks at Grandma. “Did you know she’d be able to do this?”
She shakes her head. “I have no idea why she is capable of any of this. It’s not how it’s supposed to work.”
Dad sets his mouth in a grim line. I suspect he’s already told her what he thinks about her lack of knowledge. Probably several times.
Wanting to steer the conversation back to something less volatile, I ask, “What did I do to the kitchen?” Okay, Dad’s glaring even harder at Grandma now. Maybe this isn’t a less volatile subject.
The room is suddenly quiet. Too quiet. Kallen looks at the other three people in the room as if to see if they’re going to leave it to him to tell me. Yup, they sure are. With a resigned look, he turns back to me. “You blinded us.”
No way. “What are you talking about? You can all see, can’t you?”