I smirked at her. “Will it help that I collected the stuff I stole from you when I was a kid, from Ben’s house?” My body started to shake from exhaustion.
Kassia didn’t respond, but motioned Ben toward the other room. “Take her up to her room, but you and I need to talk about why you don’t look surprised by any of this.”
Ben glanced back at my sister. “I’ve seen weirder things,” he said and looked at me again. “After all that magic, you’re going to need to refuel, aren’t you?”
I nodded.
“Okay, where’s the kitchen?”
I motioned weakly in that direction, but searched around the room, trying to find where the angry magic had come from.
I had felt a surging in power. It hadn’t been from me. If it wasn’t for that power and the control it possessed, I never would have been able to stop those freaky women.
No one was there though. No one . . . other than my sister. And suddenly, I could sense it. The girl was swimming in it, but it wasn’t like mine. Her magic felt, not like it came from the earth where mine came from, but from some darker, brooding place.
Yeah. I had to figure out who my sister was. There was no doubt in my mind. That was the answer.
Twelve
I smirked at Ben when he set a plate down in front of me which contained a sandwich that looked to have come from heaven itself. I had forgotten we were at a Halloween party. He still had the face paint on, which made him look like a rabid wolf and I had the foam snake around my neck, with blood and bugs coming out of my mouth.
“Please tell me I’m not on the menu for you tonight, Fenrir. I’m a little too tired to fight.”
His lips turned up in a grin which made him . . . well . . . beautiful, despite the makeup. He took a chip from my plate and crunched into it while he slouched back into the chair next to mine with a negligent shrug. “I’ll let you off tonight, since you’ve already been in two fights today.”
“Excuse me?” my sister demanded, her arms folded as she walked over. “What other fight have you been in, Shayla?”
I took a bite of my sandwich and pointed to my mouth like there was no way to answer because of it.
Ben grimaced and looked at my sister. “Paul Marston,” he said angrily.
Kassia squished her eyebrows together as she scooted up onto the counter. “What about him?”
“He’s a moron,” I said through my mouthful.
Ben thumped his fist on the table. “He’s also a sociopath.” He looked over at Kassia again. “He tried to use a whiskey bottle to club Shayla over the head.”
“Tried?” my sister asked through her teeth.
Ben looked back at me, his brows raised high. “You took him down without any use of magic, but he’s twice your size.”
I set my sandwich down, my hands folded on the table in front of me. “You have the sight,” I stated as a question.
Ben nodded. “I do. I’ve seen . . . everything, I think.”
“So how do you know I didn’t use magic to take Paul down?” I asked, unsure how his gift worked.
“Glamours don’t work on me and magic gives off a glow. You . . . you’re like a kaleidoscope. More magic than I’ve ever seen in anybody.”
I filed that away for further contemplation and turned to look at my sister. “And you?”
Kassia scowled at me. “We WILL finish the discussion about the Marston kid,” she said bossily, but slowly nodded. “And yeah, I’ve known about Mom and your dad all my life.”
“Elves.” Ben turned in his seat to face Kassia. “But you’re not like Shayla. There’s something different about you, something I can’t identify, which is pretty amazing in itself.”
Kassia slid down from the counter and walked to the fridge. She took out a bottle of water, her eyes sad. She stared at it for a long moment, then slowly nodded. “I don’t know for sure because there is no record of my birth anywhere, but I think my biological father was, some kind of monster, I guess.”
Ben shook his head. “No, I’ve seen pretty much every monster there is, but you . . . your magic isn’t quite as powerful as Shayla’s, but it’s darker.”
My stomach growled in protest of me not eating the sandwich, so I took another bite, my mind filled by questions. “Ayanna said that Mom—” I broke off, unsure how my sister would feel about the fact Mom had sacrificed her own safety because she had not wanted to be separated from her.
Kassia took a drink of her water, her eyes fixed on the floor. “Mom was kicked out of Álfheimr when she was pregnant with me. She went to the human world because no one was willing to let her stay when they found out about me. I’ve known that all my life.”
I shook my head, irritated that anyone would have told her such a thing. It was cruel for a child to know that kind of information, but when it came to Kassia no one seemed to care about her feelings. Well, I did. I would make sure no one hurt her again, in any way.
She gave me a long look, the broody look there in full force. “Shayla, does this mean you remember where you were?” She stalked over to sit at the table with Ben and me, more restless than I’d ever seen her.
I chewed contemplatively, then slowly shrugged. “I know it was a cave, but not much else. I only remember small pieces. I don’t think I’m supposed to remember at all.”
“Then why do you?”
I shook my head, entirely unsure of so many things.
Kassia rubbed at her brows, though kept her eyes fixed on the table. “You’re in danger, Shayla. I . . . I think you should go stay with the Chief.”
“No,” I said with force and set my sandwich down. “I will not leave you alone to face whatever is going on. You are my family. You’re all I have left. We WILL stand together.”
“I’m not all you have left, Shayla.”
“You’re all I have left that I will claim with no shame.”
She stared me down. “This is not up for discussion. You are under my guardianship until you turn eighteen next year and I will do what is best for you if you like it or not.”
“What’s best for me is to stick with you,” I stated adamantly. “I get that you’re trying to protect me, but we don’t even know what’s going on. We need to figure this out and if you remember what happened half an hour ago, it should be pretty obvious that you and I are stronger when we stand together.”
Kassia grimaced, then looked over at Ben. “How does a guy with the sight end up hanging out with a couple of mix-breed elves? Don’t most of you hate us?”
Ben shrugged. “I have no idea what most of us do. I’ve never met anyone else who can see what I see, well, other than my dad. What he taught me, was that immortals had the potential to be both good, or bad, just like humans.” He swallowed, his eyes fixed on the table. “The first time I saw an elf, I was five. That elf used her magic to make some guy basically her slave. Then last month, I see this little elf in my Human Geography class who could have forced every male in the room to do anything for her, but what she did was laugh, make jokes, act like a human. The difference is clear as day. That difference is why I’m here.”
“So that’s why you were staring at me. You were waiting for me to do something horrible?”
Ben’s eyes flicked toward my sister, then came back to me as he cleared his throat. “Yeah, Shayla. That’s why.”
Kassia rolled her eyes. “So you know we’re not out to hurt humans and you’ve decided to stand with Shayla?”
“I’ll stand with any creature who isn’t out to hurt humans, or anything else.”
“Ben, you can’t stand with us,” I said quietly. “The White killed my mom and dad and apparently, they want my sister’s soul. I know the house of Gungnir will stand with me against them, but this isn’t going to be a quiet, peaceful ride. This is war.”
“Looks to me like it’s a war which is entirely just, so I will stand with you,” he said stubbornly, his arms folded over his chest.
Kassia made an exasperated face, but slowly nodded to h
im. “You shouldn’t make that kind of decision without talking to your mom,” she stated, then looked at me. “And you need to calm down. The house of Gungnir won’t stand with you because it has to do with me. Everybody’s opposed to my existence. I’m used to it.”
“Dorian will,” I said, suddenly certain of that fact. The trouble was, I didn’t know where he could be.
“Who’s Dorian?”
“A Queen’s guard who was my friend. He helped me escape,” I said, then decided just to tell them all that had come back to me in the last few days. “Dad was the Black Queen’s son. She took me to save my life from the attack which killed Mom and Dad. I don’t know why she didn’t release me after the attack, but my life was pretty good for several years. The problem was, her other son hated me, thought I was nothing but a waste of space. He . . . he killed the Black Queen two years ago, stole her crown and made himself King. That’s when things got bad for me.” I touched the scars through my shirt and went on. “Dorian believed that the Black King would place him in the traitor’s cells for releasing me, but Ayanna specifically said he's in the human world. If I can talk Ayanna into contacting him wherever he is, he will help us.”
“How do you know that?”
And memory began to come back in a slow trickle. “He’s Gray too. His mother was a cook in the White King’s house and his father was a stone worker for the Black. He was given a place in the house of Gungnir when he was a kid and is now the highest ranking Black guard, the commander of the house of Gungnir, or was until he helped me escape. I’d guess Gerik probably stripped his rank, though I don’t know if he could have taken away Dorian’s role in the house of Gungnir. We are Odin’s spear when the final battle comes. That’s actually what Gerik hated most about having Dorian as a guard. Dorian outranked him.”
Ben raised his brows. “So he’s the one you said taught you everything good you know?”
I nodded.
“Glamours don’t work on me. I’ve seen an elf who’s pretty much invisible to everybody else, whose magic is similar to yours, but far less powerful. He’s been around you since you got back, with the same spear of Odin tattoo that’s on the back of your hand, in the center of his forehead.”
I gaped at him, both baffled and hurt by such news. “It was his magic I felt tonight,” I whispered, recalling the gust of air which pushed Paul back at the party.
“So the guy who helped you escape is here? Why?” Kassia asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.
“I don’t know. He told me he had to stay with our people.” I scowled at the sandwich in front of me, then picked it up to take another bite.
I chewed slowly while my mind whirred. Dorian had saved me, healed me, then said he would go back. He had taken my memories, or at least tried to.
Why hadn’t he been able to? Why had he come with me, but stayed out of sight?
I stood up and walked into the center of the room, then tipped my head back and bellowed. “Dorian!”
Nothing happened other than that my sister and Ben looked at me like I had lost my marbles.
I turned away from them and slid to the floor, my head on my knees. Whatever was going on, I wanted no part of it. All I wanted was to make sure my sister was safe. Everything else was inconsequential in the extreme.
Thirteen
I slammed my locker door, furious to have to waste time at school when there were so many more important things which needed to be dealt with. All I wanted was to leave, but Kassia had insisted school was important. Psht.
It was a relief when I saw JJ not far down the hall from me, his eyes fixed on the floor in front of him. He was such a sweet guy, but I had begun to wonder if his silence in social situations was more than simple shyness. He was a nice little mystery to contemplate while I waited for the school day to end.
I moved to stand next to him, my brows raised high. “I have a question for you,” I said, unsure if he would respond.
He swallowed and flicked his eyes around, then gave me a look of question.
“Do you have an opinion on cars?"
His brows rose and his lips quivered before very slowly, he smiled. “Cars are handy to get you to places,” he said in his usual quiet voice.
I grinned at him, pleased to be on the verge of drawing him out. “Color or style preference?”
“I prefer them to have engines which run.”
I snorted out a laugh. “So you’re not picky, I take it.”
“Mine is twenty years old and rusty. I just like that it runs.”
“I’m pickier than you are,” I said with a nod. “I prefer for them to have character, pizazz and sex-appeal.”
His whole face lit with amusement. “Are we talking about cars or people?”
“Both.”
“I’d rather be alone, Shayla.”
“I’d rather have a cool set of wheels which can take me to someplace I can either be alone, or with somebody I trust.”
“Why do you need a car for that?”
I nodded. “Good point. So does this mean we can be besties now?” I asked, my hands clasped together prayerfully.
He flicked his eyes to meet mine, then gave me a small smile, but didn’t speak.
Seemed like that would be the most I could expect to get from him, so it was enough. I motioned toward our class, more sure than ever that his shyness had more to do with a fear of crowds than anything else. One on one, he was great.
As we walked, I felt the heat of someone’s eyes fixed on me. It was no friendly gaze either. I didn’t have to look to know it was Paul, then again, maybe it was London. It didn’t matter in the least to me. Neither of them mattered. I had good friends. Who needed more?
Ben walked over to my other side, his brow furrowed. “You look like you’re in pissy mode today,” he said by way of greeting.
“You look tall,” I responded, then nodded to JJ. “You want to play this little game called ‘state the obvious’?”
His lips turned up in a small smile. “Would it be too obvious if I said I’d rather not play?”
Ben stared at him for a moment, obviously not having expected him to speak in public, then he smiled. “I could state a few more obvious things than that, but I wouldn’t want to piss Shayla off even more than she already looks.”
I rolled my eyes at him, but since he knew what was going on, it seemed useless not to tell him a portion of the truth. “Kassia bribed me into going to school today by telling me she’d buy me a car when I get my license.”
“Why would that make you mad?”
I scowled at him. “Because there are things I wanted to do today which cannot be done while I’m stuck in this building.”
“You can go after school.”
I flopped down in a desk and glowered at my bag. “I don’t know what to do. I’m so used to fighting for my life, I don’t know how to handle—” I broke off, irritated to have said those things in public.
JJ sat down in the desk in front of me and turned, his eyes fixed on my desktop. “I don’t say much, so when I’m around, people tend to forget about me. I hear everything. I don’t gossip.”
I sighed and rubbed at my brows. “I never thought you were a gossip, JJ. I just don’t know what’s going on in my life and don’t particularly want to air out my dirty laundry in public.”
“Would you like me to leave?”
I shook my head. “I like having you around, JJ. Your calmness makes me feel entirely at ease.”
He smiled, though turned back to the front when the bell rang.
I glanced over at Ben, not at all surprised to see his eyes fixed on me. “I take my driver’s test tomorrow,” I whispered while our teacher began to take attendance.
“Want some company when you’re picking out your car?” he whispered back.
I placed my finger on my chin in a thoughtful pose. After a moment, I nodded. “I’d like that.”
And suddenly, everything felt right to me. Even the idea of being at school wasn’t as te
rrible, because Ben, JJ and Francis were all there too.
The trouble was, despite the presence of my friends, the day sucked. Homework began to pile up like bricks in a wall which wanted to separate me from freedom. No. Not a chance. Nothing could hold me back ever again, not even a mountain of homework.
By the time school ended, all I wanted was a fight. I was restless, irritable and so not in the mood to deal with anything at all. It seemed best to lock myself in my bedroom until the storm inside me subsided.
“Shayla!”
I glanced wearily over my shoulder while walking toward the place where Kassia always picked me up. I just wanted to get home. Why would anyone be foolish enough to stop me in the moment?
Francis jogged over, his fiery red hair like a beacon of hope on a dark night. “The group and I were all going to get together, hang out tonight. Want me to pick you up?” he asked with a big, bright smile.
I shook my head. “I can’t tonight, Francis. I need some time to do homework,” I said, unwilling to inflict my company on anyone in the moment.
He tipped his chin back and let out a derisive sound. “Meaning you have plans with Ben?” he asked in a cold voice.
I glanced over at him, baffled by the tone. “No, Francis. I have homework coming out my ears and am in a piss poor mood.” I did my best not to take it out on him, but he appeared to be in the mood for a fight.
“Whatever, Shayla. I’m sure you and Ben can cheer each other up.”
I stopped and gave him a hard look, no longer confused, but downright angry. “What is your problem, Francis?” I didn’t really want to know, but was too irritated with him not to ask.
He threw his hands up into the air. “I’m sick of you, Shayla! You come back and I think, hey, this is awesome. My best friend from when I was a little kid is here. This is going to be great. But all of a sudden, you’re not my Shayla. You’re just one of those stupid girls that flocks around Ben because he’s tall or whatever it is that girls like about him. You’re just like every other dumb girl and I’m sick of it!” he shouted, his cheeks a blotchy pink as he panted for breath.
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