"Sure." Kyle closed his eyes and held his hands out, palms up. He knew the Elemental tattoos on his palms were glowing in their perspective colors as he tapped into his aunt's magic. One pull and the entire web-like network of symbols and wards appeared to him. They were thick and triple layered. The sheer strength pumped into them from the land itself caused a pain in the back of his head and he opened his eyes, staggering.
Tas stood beside him, her hand on his shoulder. "You alright?"
"Wow. I just," Kyle gave her a half smile. "Arden's not taking any chances, is she?"
"So it's good?" Ivan said as he joined Bastien at the door.
Kyle nodded and followed everyone back out. They walked across the way to the cypress enshrouded Cairn. As they filed in through the only opening in the trees, he felt the protective circle pass over him and it almost felt like it was moving through him.
The new mirror was covered in a black cloth and draped in Rowen branches. The Rowen would prevent the Queens of Faerie from knowing they were in the circle around the Cairn.
Once they were all there, Arden called them together away from the mirror in the Fire side of the Circle. He sensed a very chaotic energy around his Aunt and approached her.
"I'm fine, Kyle," Arden held up her hand. She wore a dark shawl and her hair was brushed back from her face. "I'm sorry about the cryptic nature of the meeting, and I thank Bastien for getting the Aces organized."
Bastien, standing beside Tas, bowed.
"Did something happen?" Kyle asked.
"I had a visit from Martin Cosgrove earlier this evening." She looked at each of them and Kyle felt the group's stress level rise. "And apparently a little bird whispered in his ear that Sam had a child."
The reaction was fast and a bit loud as Bastien, Tas, Dharma and Ivan all spoke at once. Kyle didn't. Instead, he started processing what that meant. The reality of the head of Parliament knowing there was a dragon baby.
Arden held up her hands again and everyone stopped.
"Who—" Kyle said in the momentary silence. "Who told him that? Who is this bird?"
Tas snorted. "I'll wager it's Elder Thorn."
"You would be right," Arden said. "Cosgrove even admitted it was Thorn who told him. Now as to how that man even got a whiff that Sam was pregnant—" she moved her head from side to side. "Maybe he noticed how sick she was getting in that chair that day. When Cosgrove wanted to confront her about not being a Witch."
"Was it Thorn who told Cosgrove that as well?" Tas said.
"Yes. And I don't know how that man is getting this information. I've had Ivan watching him ever since Sam's death and we don't know how he found out about the baby."
Bastien had started pacing. "Merde—did he believe there is a child?"
"Cosgrove? No." Arden shook her head. "I don't think he really believes it. I think he's just pacifying Thorn but he seemed a bit jumpy. On edge. And he was looking at my house pretty hard. My guess is Thorn told him to ambush me and look for any sign of a child, such as toys.” She paused. "The only other thing I can think of is we have a mole. I don't suspect anyone in this Circle, and I don't suspect Jack either Kyle."
Kyle nodded. "Given the thickness of the wards I just touched," and he put his hand to his temple. "I don't see how anyone could know there was a child in this place, much less a mouse."
"They're strong," Dharma said. "Sometimes moving around here is like moving through cobwebs. But wouldn't that mean this Thorn person is spying on us outside of here? Maybe at Bell, Book and Candle, or even in our homes?"
"Could be," Ivan said. "I can sense any electronic sneaky snoopers, but the magic ones can get by me."
"So that means Lizzie's still safe here," Dharma said and looked at everyone before she pointed to the ground. "Here at Gypsy Gardens."
"Sa fait pas rien," Bastien stopped pacing and put his hands on his hips. "We have to move her. Now. Tonight."
"Bastien—" Tas began.
"No," Arden interrupted. "He's right." She looked at Tas and then everyone as she crossed her arms over her chest, pulling her shawl closer. "I've been thinking about this since Cosgrove's visit. We don't know a lot about Kingsley Thorn. Only that he replaced Lethe when her identity was uncovered. He's from Oregon, from the Main branch of the Witch’s Parliament. And apparently he has supporters because Cosgrove said it was one of Thorn's people who accused me of raising Sam's child."
"Son of a—" Ivan muttered.
"Exactly, Ivan. Which is why I need you to find everything you can on this man. And do it as quietly as you can. I know you and Dharma are working with him at the Cleric Office, so watch your backs and don't even use your little weird text trick. I know for a fact there are more Cyber Witches out there under the employ of the Clerics.” The Cyber Witch Ivan had been training with had been killed by Quan, but there were more. Several more.
"You really have been thinking about this," Tas said.
"Non-stop. The Parliament is a real danger. They have fingers in everything that has to do with us. And the idea there could be a child born of an Elemental Witch and a Dragon could manifest some very strange thoughts in their ranks. Some will want the child destroyed because they'll be afraid of her, and others will want her sequestered away. People get stupid when they're confronted with power—especially when they think they can control it." She licked her lips. "I don't know what happened to Circe, or Blackwood. Only that no one's seen or heard from them."
"And both were pretty much convicted of crimes against Witches," Kyle said. "If they were to get hold of her—"
"No!" Bastian hissed. "They will not have her. I will kill all of them if they dare, mon ami." He turned to Arden. "I believe we must find Crwys now, more than ever. If anyone can protect his child, it is he."
Everyone nodded.
"Have you already initiated a plan?" Tas asked.
"I have. But, there's something I haven't told you." She took in a deep breath. "Cosgrove said they've put in a request to have Sam's body exhumed."
Everyone reacted at once, even Kyle. He swore and looked at Arden. She was looking at him beneath the chatter. And she did something she hadn't done since Sam's death.
She forged a Link with he and with Bastien.
The ground vibrated beneath Kyle's bare feet. He jumped and looked down. "What the hell was that?"
"I think it was an explosion?" Arden said, though she had doubt in her voice.
"Merde!" Bastien abruptly yelled out and took off, transforming into wolf before leaving the perimeter of the Cairn's circle.
Kyle and Arden exchanged looks just as Tas also took off running. Kyle ran to the cabin and jumped in his car, Arden getting in beside him. Tas and Bastien could use their supernatural abilities to get there fast on foot, but for he and Arden, broom flying wasn't really an option.
He backed up and then headed down the two-rut path up to the mansion, headlights cutting a path in the darkness.
"How is this possible?" Arden kept saying as she gripped the dashboard. "The Aces are strong and united. How could something actually—"
And then they saw it, the glow visible in the night sky before the flames. Gypsy Gardens was on fire. The initial shock stopped Kyle as he stared in horror at the billowing smoke and flames.
"MOVE!" Arden screamed, beside him and through the Link.
There was no response, and Kyle wasn't sure if he was hearing Arden's conversation with Bastien or the one in the Aces Pack Link. Either way, the thought of Sam's child burning to death in that mansion blinded his thoughts for a few minutes as he gunned the engine and drove the Prius as close as he
could.
He and Arden jumped out as a dozen of Arden's Coven members came running toward her. They all looked fine, if not upset and a bit hysterical.
He didn't see a baby with any of them.
"Kyle!" Jack's voice cut through the shock. He turned to see his lover running toward him, a bit surprised he wasn't in wolf form. He grabbed Kyle's shoulders. "Bastien said to gather water or dirt—something to put out the fire."
"Has—has anyone called the Fire Department?"
"It'll take too long for them to get out here," Jack glanced back at the flames before refocusing on Kyle. "Are you with me?"
"Yeah, yeah," Kyle said and put his hand on Jack's cheek. "I'm here I just…where's Lizzie?"
The look on Jack's face terrified Kyle, but there was no time for words. Bastien was right—he needed to get with Arden and work on getting the fire out.
As if she'd been listening in, Arden called to him as she gathered her Coven around her. They formed a circle with Kyle in the East for Air and Arden in the North as Dharma moved to the West for Water and Ivan stood in the South for Fire. As a Hedge Witch, Kyle had learned his magic through incantation and spells, through herbs and lore, using talismans and sacred objects. Solomon Dumaine had taught him how to sharpen his abilities and utilize these tools every day, mostly by either keeping them in a bag around his neck, or sewn into his clothing.
When his hands locked with the Coven members he felt all of his foci fire up, charged with the magic that permeated this land. Arden's Element was Water, but with Dharma here, she was refocusing it on Earth, moving her land so that Dharma could access the Water. And since it was all swamp land, there was more than enough.
The only problem was getting the water up, controlling it and directing it onto and into the Mansion. Kyle understood they were going to have to pull all their power together and channel it toward Dharma and Arden. He felt the energy surging through him, felt it coming up from the ground in a constant channel—
But something was wrong.
It wasn't obvious at first. Just something niggling in the back of his mind, pretty much at the moment he'd stopped the Prius near the burning building. This niggling became a full-on nag as he lost concentration with the flow of energy in the circle and stepped back.
"Kyle!" Arden snapped at him. "What the hell are you doing?"
He didn't acknowledge her, but turned and walked in the direction of the Mansion. Wolves, both in human form and wolf, ran about pouring water on what they could, but their efforts weren't making a dent in it. In fact…he concentrated on a spot as a wolf held a garden hose and sprayed water.
Nothing.
There wasn't even steam.
The world is made up of four elements, Kyle, Solomon had said in their first days together. Those four elements combined create the fifth element of Spirit. It is sometimes known as the Dream spark, or as we say in Conjure, the instance of Creation. Many things can be conjured if you know all four elements intimately, and not focus on just one. Just know that all of your senses must be engaged for a true instance of that Creation.
At first, he'd never really understood the statement. But recently, since Solomon's journey into madness and his own education in the realities of magic and understanding of the God Mother's infinite ability to never play by her own rules, knowledge and recognition of this event were starting to dawn on him.
Like right now.
As he neared the fire, there was no heat. Nor was there any smell. There should be tremendous heat, to a point none of them should be able to get near the inferno. But he wasn't feeling anything. Not even a prickle. There should be the presence of smoke, so thick and toxic it would drive them back. But there was nothing.
The fire…was an illusion.
At the moment he realized this, he turned back and looked at the circle. The energy within it was still spinning deosil, clockwise, grinding up power, faster and faster so that Arden and Dharma could release it, bend it, direct it to—
He looked back at the house. Why would anyone put this kind of illusion on the house? Why make it look and feel as if it were on fire, but be so lax in completing the creation. Keeping it an illusion. Unless whoever did this, whoever was guiding the magic, didn't have the power to initiate Spirit.
They only had illusion. And for what purpose? Why make a house look as if it's on fire? All that does is—
He took off running toward the Mansion before he even finished the thought. Arden yelled at him through their Link but he didn't have time to explain. If he was right, he was going to need to tap into that spinning energy the moment he crossed the imaginary fire.
When a building was on fire the first thing people do is evacuate. They run like crazy to get away from it. Someone wanted Gypsy Gardens empty.
And if he was wrong? He hoped he was wearing flame retardant clothing.
FOUR
Kyle's suspicions proved to be right the moment he jumped through the flame.
Nothing. No heat. No burns. Not even a singe. The only thing he experienced was a bit of tingling against his skin and he did smell something metallic. A lot like copper.
He was to the right of the front door and looked around. From this side of the fire he couldn't see anything but the wolves and Arden's Coven, those not involved in the circle just beyond the house, throwing buckets of water and firing off garden hoses.
He felt her hesitancy through the Link and reassured her. Illusion wasn't her specialty. In fact it wasn't his either, but learning Conjure from Papa Dumaine had educated him about its mechanics, and more importantly, he knew how to dispel it.
"Look for a spark of power," he told them. "It will burn brighter than any of the magical items in this house. Once you find it, tell me."
The two Elementals nodded and swam through the air, one taking the downstairs, the other the upstairs. Kyle felt a bit weird as he started his own search of the house. Everything looked as it always had. Nothing was disturbed as he ran upstairs into the nursery and checked the crib. Nothing.
He checked every room, looked under and around every piece of furniture.
One of the Undines, Arden's, appeared to him and spun around, spraying him with a fine mist of water. He followed her to the parlor, the room Arden used as her meeting area for guests. The Undine went through one of the bureaus by the door behind Arden's fan chair. Kyle yanked the doors of the cabinet open and instantly sensed and saw the power of the illusion.
It was a crude little thing. A hand fashioned coin made of clay. In the center had been scratched the Rune for Fire and around it were hairs, dozens of them, in all different colors. Bits and pieces of cloth had been pushed into the coin. Kyle licked his lips, pulled the cone of power into a fine point, directed it to his left index finger and touched the coin. He sent the entirety of the magic into the object and through it, focusing on channeling the power to show him who made it, who infused it, and who put it in Arden's house.
He closed his eyes as the thing glowed in the blue Witch Fire of energy and he followed that path from the house, into the city and past the Quarter to the Garden District then it turned back and pulled him into the woods—
The power blew him backward as the coin burst into pieces. When Kyle picked himself off the floor, he saw the entire cabinet on fire. Real fire this time, with the smell of old burning wood, smoke and heat.
Dharma's Undine instantly doused the fire with Water and waited to make sure it was all out.
The floor under his hands vibrated with footsteps as he stood. Arden, Bastien, Ivan, Dharma, and a dozen more of the wolves came running in. He heard someone running up the steps
and knew it was Jack, looking for Lizzie.
Arden watched the cabinet as it smoked. She finally turned to Kyle. "Who?"
"I didn't get who. I never saw anyone, but the path it took brought me to the Garden district, and then back to the woods before I lost it."
Ivan appeared at the door, accompanied by three other of the Coven. "Arden—"
She turned. "Lizzie?"
"She's gone," Ivan said. "There's no sign of her in the house. But there's something else—"
"Where's Ceridwen?" Dharma said suddenly and approached Ivan.
Arden shot Kyle a panicked look and ran to Ivan. She put her hands on his forearms. "Where?"
"In the basement. In the room you made for Sam—she's unconscious."
Kyle followed Arden down the stairs to the room his Aunt had had repurposed when they thought Tas was going to remove the egg from Sam. It had been given state of the art equipment, complete with a bed, monitors, carpeting, antique furniture…
Ceridwen lay on the floor on the other side of the bed. Her eyes were closed, her arms out at her sides. Arden bent down beside her. Kyle moved past everyone and knelt down as well. He put one hand on the bag of herbs around his neck, the other on Ceridwen's shoulder.
She wasn't seriously injured, but her soul vibrated with urgency as Ceridwen opened her eyes and looked at Arden. Gasping, Ceridwen held up her hand and Arden grabbed it. "Lady—they took her. They took her!"
"Sshh," Arden said. "I know. Did you see who took Lizzie?"
Ceridwen blinked a few times before her arm went limp and her head turned just slightly. She was unconscious again.
Arden looked at Kyle and reached out to him. "Can you take her memory? I have to see it."
He knew what his Aunt wanted him to do. It was something only the Conjure folk could do, something he'd been taught but never attempted. Arden wanted Ceridwen's memories before they disappeared.
He felt Arden's hand on his upper arm and felt the surge of power from her. He was still a bit winded from channeling power minutes ago, but his natural abilities took over and he pulled Ceridwen's dreaming thoughts to him as he slowly removed his hand from her. Once that memory coalesced into a soft blue orb of light in his hand, he held it out to Arden, who put her hand over his and shared her hand maiden's memory with him.
Elemental Dreams: An Urban Fantasy Series (The Eldritch Files Book 9) Page 3