by Liz Schulte
“Hurry up, we’re on the freaking edge of our seats,” Katrina shouted into the kitchen, after I’d stalled with the excuse that I needed more vodka.
I walked back in with a heavy heart. “But what’s happening right now is more about Cheney’s father, the Erlking. He doesn’t care for other races, and he doesn’t like me at all.” I continued on, explaining Cheney’s plan and my role in it and what I was training for.
“Queen?” Jessica asked with wide eyes.
“No—or at least, not yet. Preparing to battle is just in case everything goes pear-shaped during the challenge. I don’t want to be dead weight.”
“Selene, have you ever even punched anyone?” Devin asked.
“Not that I remember.”
She looked at me like I was doomed.
“Meh—don’t worry. Swords are more my thing.”
Now they were sure I’d lost my mind. It was written all over their faces. “You, with a sword? I can’t even imagine,” Leslie said.
“Hey, I’m pretty good. I’ve also been working on the telekinesis.”
“Exactly how much danger are you in?” Katrina asked in a rare serious moment.
“Quite a lot,” I said, biting my lip. “This is a big deal. I don’t know how life will change with all of this, but it’s really overwhelming. That’s one of my reasons for tonight. I wanted to see you guys before …” My voice trailed off as I looked at the four best friends I would ever have. I was choosing a guy over them and a normal life. What the hell was wrong with me?
“What can we do, Selene?” Devin asked “Anything at all—even if it’s cleaning your bathroom—anything to help.”
I swallowed hard. “I have to ask you guys something. Before I do, though, I want you to know you can say no. In fact, I beg you to say no.” I sighed heavily and laid it on them. “Sebastian thinks it would be a great sign of strength if we could show we also have the backing of human witches.”
I watched each of their expressions carefully. “I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it means you’ll make yourself known to the Abyss, which will seriously endanger your lives. Second, you’re not strong enough to defend yourselves. Your safety will fully depend on someone else. Third, if any of you get hurt, I don’t think I could live with it. You all have lives and futures that don’t have to involve magic, elves, or people wanting to kill you. Please choose that.”
Silence filled the room. “Well, of course I am in,” Devin said without hesitation. I started to object but she cut me off. “Selene, you’re my family. When I said I would do anything, I meant it. You’re right that I can’t fight, but if you could learn to do it, so can I. A little civil war doesn’t frighten me.”
“I’m in, too,” Jessica said. “If you’re doing this, so are we. You’ll need someone to have your back. You don’t know any of those people, not really. We’ve got you covered.”
“Like you even had to ask,” Leslie said with teary eyes.
Katrina’s dark eyes fixed with mine. “The way I see it, this is our fate. We all became instant, crazy-close friends. None of us are married—well, except for you, and you should thank your lucky stars you didn’t marry Michael or you’d be a bigamist.” She shrugged. “We started a freaking coven without any idea of what witchcraft really even was. Let’s face it, we never have been and never will be normal.” She took a deep breath and went on. “Honestly, Selene, I’ve been looking for something, but I just didn’t know what. I think this is it. This isn’t just your journey. It’s ours. We’re in this together. We always have been and always will be.”
Tears trickled down my cheeks. “I don’t know what I would do without you guys.”
“We’re strongest together. We’ll keep each other safe. Kat is right. It is our journey,” Leslie said through tears of her own.
“You bitches are making me cry,” Jessica said, wiping her face. Even Katrina sniffled.
“I love all of you.” We dissolved in a group hug of tears and emotion. I was quite possibly the luckiest girl in the world.
“So when do we leave, and where to? Let’s blow this popsicle stand,” Katrina said with a swirl of excited energy.
“Not so fast,” I objected. “I was barely able to convince Cheney to let me come here and hang out with you guys tonight. We can’t leave yet. This is the last chance for normalcy.”
“I hate to break it to you, but that ship has sailed. It left the harbor and is somewhere in the middle of the ocean,” Devin said. “If what you said is true, we have no time to waste. We need to get our shit together and get brought fully up to speed. We can be normal once we’re all safe.”
“Seriously?” I rolled my eyes.
“It’s the smartest plan,” Jessica said.
“No way will you all fit in our cottage,” I grumbled, pulling out my phone to text Cheney. Moments later there was a sharp knock on the front door. I opened it solemnly.
Cheney quirked an eyebrow. “Did something happen?”
“You could say that.” I frowned. “They all want to help and they all want to start right now. No one wants to drink with me and pretend to be normal.”
Cheney’s musical laughter filled the night. “That must be very disappointing for you.”
“You have no idea,” I said, letting him in the house. “So how’s this going to work? They all want to come back with us and start training.”
Cheney rubbed his chin. “I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s a good idea. We don’t have time to train them well, but some emergency pointers wouldn’t hurt. We’ll need a bigger house.” Cheney pulled out his phone. Moments later there was another knock on the door. “Sebastian,” he replied to my unspoken question.
Katrina stuck her head around the corner. “What’s going on out here? Oh, hi, Cheney.”
He greeted her while I let Sebastian inside. “They’re going to help,” I said flatly.
“Wonderful,” he replied with an equal lack of inflection.
“And they want to train like I did.”
He nodded, making no indication that he had an opinion. “I’ll make some calls.” He pulled his phone out.
“We’ll be in the living room,” I said and followed Cheney and Kat back to the rest of the group. Retrieving my drink, I sat back on the couch between Devin and Jess.
“Thank you all for agreeing to help. I want to reiterate what I’m sure Selene has already told you. You don’t have to do this. It would be helpful, but I in no way want to endanger any of you—”
“We’ve been through this,” Jess cut in. “We appreciate your concern for our wellbeing, but if Selene is going to be there, so are we.”
“You may not have known this when you married Selene, since we weren’t born or anything, but we’re sort of a group deal. You don’t get to drag one of us off into some weird world without bringing the rest along,” Devin added with a smile.
“And I don’t know about these hookers, but I’m not about to let Selene become a better fighter than me. I have a rep to keep up. GTL,” Kat said, her eyes twinkling.
Cheney looked at me for translation. He was better with pop culture references than Sebastian, but this one was too obscure for him. I shook my head, grinning. “GTL—gym, tan, laundry. It’s a reference to—ah, never mind. It’s dumb.”
“Selene, big hair is not dumb.” Kat feigned disbelief. “Hair like this doesn’t come naturally.”
“You got that right, sister,” Devin said, bumping fists with her. Poor Cheney looked lost. What was he going to do with the five of us under the same roof?
“Sometimes we feed off of one another,” Leslie told Cheney earnestly, “but our resolve is strong. Neither of you will talk us out of this.”
Cheney nodded. “Then we’ll work something out.”
Two hours later, Sebastian found a new house, a more complete and detailed run down of the particulars of the situation was given, and everyone was taken home to pack a suitcase. Sebastian took the girls one by one to our new ho
me while Cheney took me back to the cottage to get my belongings. I packed slowly. We hadn’t been here long, but I liked being close to the water—and the close quarters. It was cozy and snug.
“I’m going to miss it here,” I confessed.
“You know, this is the biggest change I’ve noticed in you. You never had a problem letting go of anything before. This new trait of holding on might be my new favorite thing about you.” He smiled. “I know exactly what you mean, though. I’ll miss it here too. It’s been …”
“Intimate,” I supplied.
“Exactly.” Cheney took my bag from my hand. “We’ll come back.”
I hoped he was right.
The new place was far from indiscreet. You couldn’t even call it a house, not really. It was a compound. The living quarters were a sprawling rancher design that went on forever. In addition to that, several outbuildings and barns sat scattered across the open fields of green, beneath the bright, unmarked sky. I awoke early the next morning and headed outside to do yoga and explore. The area was flat and stretched on until it came to a small wooded area at the base of some mountains. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine cattle dotting these pastures. I found the girls well rested and waiting for me inside.
“What’s the plan?” Devin asked, clapping her hands together.
“I have no idea. We’ll have to wait for Cheney and Sebastian.”
“We’re here,” Sebastian said behind me.
“So how are we training them? Weapons, darts, what?”
Sebastian leaned against the wall. “None of that. They’re too human.”
“So what are you going to do with them?” I asked, inwardly griping about how maybe I was too human to be made into a pin cushion.
“We need them for their magic. They need to study your grandmother’s book.”
So the girls and I went over the boring book, page by page, while Sebastian and Cheney fine-tuned their own plans. Finally Cheney came into the room and nodded that it was time. We abandoned Sebastian with the girls to go see my grandmother. My nerves instantly frayed and my mouth went dry. I loved Gram without question, and she’d always been good to me, but something about her scared the crap out of me. I never could place what it was or how it started, but I’d spent the last nineteen years of my life terrified I was disappointing her. And now, just the fact that I was only a half-human made me feel like a failure. She’d done such an amazing job of making me terrified to use magic that going to see her after having disregarded everything she’d ever told me made me wish I could meet with vampires instead and let Cheney handle her.
The fact that I now knew she was a witch, and that I was married woman, did little to convince me that I wasn’t still going to get sent to my room. I expected to hear her say, “Selene Autumn Warren,” as soon as I walked through the door. And no matter how old you are, when a parent uses all three of your names in a certain tone of voice, your stomach sinks and your shoulders sag.
Cheney and I paused outside the green-shingled house, and I looked at my childhood home. It seemed like ages since I’d last been there, though in reality it was less than two months.
“You ready?” Cheney asked.
“Not even close.” I gave him a panicked look. “You want to handle this one on your own? I’ll take care of the vampires.”
Cheney laughed. “You need to talk to Edith. You owe her that.”
He was right. I did. I climbed the porch steps like I was sinking into them. My hand hovered over the doorknob as I rethought barging in and knocked. I heard her shuffling around on the other side, muttering.
“Selene, why in heavens did you knock and not just come in, child? Have you lost your senses?” She ushered Cheney and me through the door, locking it securely behind us. She’d installed four new locks on the front door. “This isn’t the only change either,” she announced, catching my surprise. “I’ve cast some rather effective protection charms around the house as well. I’ve already caught myself two lurkers.”
Gram talking about charms made my head spin. “How have you been, Gram?” I asked, hugging her thin, bony frame. I didn’t know a lot about medicine, but it seemed like she’d healed too fast for her age. Her stark white hair was carefully coiffed just the way she liked it, and she wore linen pants with a long, flowing black top. She looked put-together and distinguished, nothing like when I saw her in the hospital.
“The doctors were amazed by my recovery.” She winked and patted Cheney on the arm. “Let’s have a seat.” She took us to the kitchen table where she had cookies and lemonade waiting.
“How did you get well so quickly?” I asked, helping myself to a chewy looking oatmeal treat.
“She still doesn’t …” Gram darted a questioning look at Cheney.
Cheney shook his head. I gave an annoyed sigh. “Cheney?”
“Remember when we went to see Edith in the hospital and she was unconscious?” I nodded. “Well, to wake her up I had to transfer energy from me into her. Healing is a side effect.”
“You can heal people?”
“I can transfer some of my life force into another, but it weakens me. It isn’t something that can be done often.”
“Can I do it?”
“It would be one of your elf abilities if you ever regain them. But it isn’t something to do lightly, especially by a half-elf. It would shorten your life span significantly.”
“Selene hasn’t regained any of her elf abilities?” Gram asked, looking at me carefully.
I shook my head. “I don’t remember much of anything, only a few sparse memories.” Her eyes lingered on the lack of a ring on my finger.
Cheney took my hand and Grandma studied us. “You’ve grown into yourself, child.” There was something in her tone that suggested it wasn’t a compliment. I ignored the feeling, thinking I must just be overanalyzing. Of course she was happy for me. She gave me an awkward hug, her arms barely touching me.
Cheney smiled and made no move toward her. I had the impression from the few elves I’d met that they really weren’t touchy-feely. I couldn’t tell if Cheney made the exception for me or if he was the exception.
When we settled back down in our seats, Grandma said, “I thought this visit was going to be about important matters, not trivial wedding tidings.” She gave me a hard look. “I was worried Selene was going to tell me she was going back with you.”
Oh dear …
Cheney gave me a look like I should say something, but I stubbornly ignored him.
He cleared his throat. “Actually, Edith …” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re right. We are going back, but there’s no reason, once things are safe, that Selene can’t return to visit—or you could visit us.”
Grandma nodded, still waiting. I couldn’t guess anything that she was thinking. Was she mad? Sad? She was just frustratingly silent.
“And there’s something else.” Cheney said, nudging me.
I ran through the problem and the plan with Cheney’s assistance. Grandma questioned us like an attorney until she was completely satisfied. Then she leaned back in her chair. “Well, obviously you need me there.”
“Gram, you don’t have to come. You’ve been unwell—”
“Don’t tell me what I’m capable of, child. You will need me. Do you still have my book?”
Cheney nodded.
“Then I can help, especially with protection. You could cast the same spells, but it sounds like you’ll have your hands full. Also you have a coven of witches who are wet behind the ears. Someone needs to whip those girls into shape. I’ll get my bag.”
Cheney started to say something, but Grandma cut him off. “This isn’t open for discussion. Selene may be your wife, but she’s my blood. I’m coming along.” Then she marched out of the room.
Cheney arched an eyebrow. “What is it about you that inspires so much loyalty?” he asked.
“You tell me.” I shook my head. “Perhaps I give the impression that I can’t take care of myself. Why have you been so l
oyal?”
“Because I love you.”
“Well, there you have it. Obviously I’m easy to love.” I smiled and winked.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Cheney said. I punched him lightly, knowing he meant it as a joke, but part of me reminded myself it was probably true.
“Do you think I should help Edith?” he asked.
“No, she’ll accuse you of rushing her and making her forget everything. It’s best to let her be.” Worry nagged at me though. “Promise me nothing will happen to Grandma.”
“I can’t. I think she’ll be fine, but the only person I’m going to swear to protect is you.”
“But—”
“Not open for discussion. Just you.”
“I’m not at eighty-year-old woman who just got out of the hospital.”
“No.”
“You’re impossible. You can’t just hover around me the whole time.”
“And what am I supposed to do if you die? I just got you back. I’m not losing you again.”
“So what’s your plan? Are you going to lock me in a padded room for safe keeping?” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If you love me, prove it. Trust me.”
“I do trust you.”
“Then let me worry about me and you help me take care of my family, and I’ll help you take care of yours.”
His brows pulled together. “It’s not really the same thing. We aren’t exactly going to be on friendly terms with my family.”
“We’ll see,” I said, and he raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to talk your father out of fighting with you.”
Cheney sat in stunned silence for a moment. “You honestly believe you can talk him into handing over the crown?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to try. Family is important. Ours and yours. If there’s anything I can do to prevent this, I will.”
He took my hand. “I’ll protect your grandmother, though I have the sneaking suspicion she can take care of herself.”