by Grace White
“Huh?” His brows pinch. “What do you mean you’re not sure it was a dream?”
“I saw it again. The black mist.”
“Shit.” He grabs his phone, fingers flying over the screen, but I slam my hand on top of his and say, “No, please. Don’t tell them. Not yet.”
My head feels like it went through a food processor. I can’t deal with four over-protective guys yet. From the hard stare Cael is giving me, one is bad enough. I melt back into the pillows, pressing my arm over my head, trying to relieve the constant thud.
“You’re still sick?”
“I feel worse. How long was I out?”
“An hour,” he says. “I’m calling Violet again.” Cael climbs out of bed and I start to protest but he glances back, running a hand down his face. “I’m sorry, Kitten, but we need answers now.”
Cael slips out of the room, but it doesn’t take long for back-up to arrive. Endo peeks around the door and smiles. I grumble under my breath. He eyes the space beside me, sheets still rumpled from Cael and then flicks his gaze to the chair. “Better safe than sorry,” he says taking the latter option.
“I don’t have cooties.”
“I’m sure you don’t; however, I don’t want to risk you jumping my bones.” He winks, and I roll my eyes, but it doesn’t have its desired effect since even looking at him takes up energy I don’t have. “Waiting for you to turn up was pure torture.”
His words sink into me as I drift again. “But I don’t think I ever expected things to be so... interesting.”
I peek a heavy eye open and look over at him. “Interesting? That’s what you’re calling this?”
“Hell yeah. We spent nineteen years waiting for you. Living amongst humans. Trying to blend. It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.”
“What did you do?” My voice is groggy, but I cling to consciousness, too afraid to slip back under.
“Do?” His brows quirk up.
“Yeah. For all that time?”
“Tried not to murder Sol in his sleep.”
A laugh spills out of me, but oh God, it hurts, and I draw my knees up.
“Terra?” Endo rushes to my side, stroking my face, and I lean into his touch.
“What’s happening to me?” I curl my fingers into his t-shirt. “I’m scared, Endo.”
“Ssh, Vasilissa. I’m here. I’m right—”
“Terra?” Ross’ pained voice fills the room and Endo moves aside making room for Ross. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Like an ancient goddess is playing football with my insides.”
“Cael went to get Violet. They should be here soon.”
“I’m going to take a leak. Watch her?” Endo says to Ross who nods. “I’ll be back, don’t go anywhere.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I manage the faintest of smiles, but it creates a ripple effect, my body groaning in agony.
“Jesus, Terra.”
“He’s real?”
“What?”
“Jesus, is he real?”
“You’re asking me if Jesus is real?”
“I’m just trying to stop myself falling back to sleep. Tell me a story.” I tug on his hand and Ross kicks off his boots and swings his legs onto the bed, shuffling back to sit beside me.
“Hmm, I’m not sure storytelling is my thing. I prefer that.” He flicks his gaze to the wall of sketches.
“Tell me about them.” My eyes dance over the drawings, landing on one of my favorites. “Tell me about that one. The one with the couple on the bench.”
“It was last year, a few months after you turned eighteen. We’d already gotten word of your whereabouts. We knew of your grandmother’s plans to enroll you in Atchison. So when you didn’t show up we... well, we didn’t handle it very well. Endo got into some trouble on the field. He’d taken up football as a way of keeping busy. The same with Cael and the track team. Sol went off and did whatever it is he does.”
“You knew where I was? And my grandmother she...”
He stiffens realizing his slip. “Your grandmother was a green witch, Terra.”
“She was? But how...” I’m dumbstruck. She was always so accepting of me, of my strange affinity to nature, but I had no idea she was a witch. A pang of grief hits me. “Did you... know her?”
Ross shakes his head. “But once we found out who she was, it made sense Gaia would align herself with an ally. We wanted to come to you so badly. But Sol wanted us to respect Gaia’s wishes and you were human now. You had other responsibilities.”
“I- I had no idea.”
Just when I think nothing else can shock me. Everything had happened so quickly from my grandmother's passing. It felt like so long ago now even though it was a matter of months.
“Do you think my late arrival changed the course of things?”
“I think everything is playing out exactly the way fate intends.”
I don’t know why but that eases the tight knot in my chest. Caring for my gran in the last months of her life was important to me. I’m glad they didn’t take that away from me.
Silence settles between us. There’s so much more I want to ask, to know, but instead I say, “And you?” I nudge his arm. “What did you do?”
“Do?”
“Yeah, when you realized I wasn’t coming. What did you do?”
“I sketched.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” I love Ross’ drawings.
“I became obsessed with sketching her.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, I had all these blisters and sores on my fingers. It was pretty intense. But it was like after all that time waiting, it let me be close to her. Anyway, one day I was in town picking up some supplies and I saw this couple sitting in the park. They weren’t doing anything special but there was something about the way they looked at each other, I had to sketch them. It was the first thing I’d sketched in weeks that wasn’t Gaia.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
Silence settles between us.
“Ross?” I say after a few seconds drift by.
“Yeah?”
“Do you still sketch her?”
“I haven’t sketched her since you arrived.”
“Oh. Do you think—”
“They’re here.” Endo pokes his head around the door. “Is it okay if Violet comes up here?”
I nod and try to sit up. Ross helps me and then moves to the chair. Cael and Violet arrive a minute later. “You look like shit.”
“Vi—”
“It’s fine, Cael. She’s not telling me anything I don’t already know.” Besides, Violet’s honesty is refreshing.
“Do you have any rashes? Any strange marks?” She comes to the edge of the bed, drops her bag and looks at me.
“I- I don’t think so.”
Violet gives me a tight smile. “Okay then, let’s get started.” She rubs her hands together hovers them over my head and closes her eyes.
“Just relax, Terra. I’m going to get to the bottom of this. You can trust me.”
The guys watch from the other side of the room as she silently moves her hands over my body. I feel nothing; just the gentle push of air as her palms glide through the space above me. But I’m nervous of what she might find.
Of what she might see.
So when her eyes snap open and she says, “I know what’s wrong with you,” I’m not sure I want to know the answer.
Air
He paced back and forth repeatedly, waiting downstairs while Violet was upstairs with Terra. By the gods, he’d almost lost it watching as the witch performed some kind of spell that sent her into a deep sleep. Almost lunged for her and demanded she reverse it. But he trusted Violet. As a green witch, she knew what was at stake. She wouldn’t screw them over.
Everything had gone wrong. Bringing Terra to the safe house was supposed to be a short-term solution. A chance to regroup while they searched for answers. But again, she’d been put in harm’s way. Even he was beginning to believe the
y were all pawns in some bigger game. Pieces to be played with and manipulated. They needed to unlock Gaia’s memories, but it was a dangerous thing to even consider. That kind of information overload, the raw power Terra would experience opening her mind to Gaia’s memories, could cause irreparable damage. Something none of them were willing to risk. But time was running out and soon, hard decisions would have to be made.
Decisions he knew none of them were prepared for.
Decisions that could change everything.
12.
Everything hurts as my eyes flicker open. My muscles ache and my mouth feels like cotton. My heavy gaze runs over my surroundings. It’s familiar. My room at Earhart... no, that’s not right. It’s bigger. Searching my hazy memories, it slowly comes back to me. I’m in my room at the safe house, the one the guys brought me to. I try to speak, to ask what happened, but I bite back the words when I spot Sol sitting in the chair. He’s sleeping, his head propped on his fist. I rack my brain for some clues as to what happened to me. The last thing I remember is arguing with him. Storming to my room in a fit of rage and meditating in hopes of forcing myself into a dream sleep.
He shifts, and his eyes begin to flicker open. I don’t know why but I close mine pretending to still be asleep. There’s a strange sense of panic building in my chest. Fear.
What the hell happened between then and now, and why can’t I remember?
Sol yawns, a deep rumble, and the chair scrapes across the floor as he stands. I don’t peek, but I can hear him moving around the room. I sense him drawing nearer, and his fingers ghost over my cheek. “You have to come back to us, Terra. Fuck,” he rasps. “Come back to me.”
I’m so distracted by the pain in his voice I don’t realize he’s at the door until I hear it click open and I rush out, “Wait.” It’s barely a croak, but he comes back to my side offering me a sip of water from the bottle on the nightstand.
“You’re awake.”
“Why do I feel like sleeping beauty right now?”
“What do you remember?” He offers me more water and then sits on the edge of the bed.
“We had a fight. I stormed to my room and meditated. I think I dreamed about you and the rest of the guys.” The memories trickle in. “Yes, I remember. I saw the moment she forbade you to follow her to Earth.”
“What else?”
“Sol...”
I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. As if he’s waiting for the penny to drop, and my chest tightens.
“It’s okay. Violet said it could take a little while for your memories to return.” Something flickers in his dark gaze.
“Violet was here?” I try to sit up but the room spins.
“Easy there, you need to take it easy.”
“What I need is for someone to tell me what the hell happened.” My eyes narrow at him, but he remains tight-lipped. The bedroom door flies open and Cael and Endo stand there, looking a strange mix of relieved and terrified.
“Now I know something happened,” I say.
“At least she didn’t wipe your humor.”
“Endo,” Cael warns.
“What? We can’t make jokes now?”
“Will someone please tell me what happened?”
“What do you remember, Kitten?” Cael comes around the other side of the bed, but I don’t get chance to answer as Sol says, “She remembers our fight and storming to her room.”
“And the dream with Gaia and the four of you. I remember that.”
“Anything else?” Cael eyes Sol and there’s something strange about the look they share. I don’t like it. But from Sol’s stern expression I know I’m not going to get answers either.
“N- no,” I admit. “But something tells me you all know what happened.”
“I thought I told you all not to crowd her.”
“Violet?”
“Hey.” She comes to my side. “How are you feeling?”
“I honestly don’t know how to answer that.”
She offers me a weak smile and then turns her attention to the three brooding males all staring at me as if I’m a mirage. “Out, all of you.”
“Come on, she just woke u—”
“Which is exactly why she needs space and doesn’t need the three of you hovering over her.” Violet comes around to the bed. “Go wait downstairs. We’ll be fine. Right, Terra?”
“Umm, yeah.”
Cael and Endo both come and kiss my forehead, but Sol lingers. When my eyes slide to his, he drops his head and then follows the other two out of the room leaving me with Violet. She perches on the edge of the desk. “It’s nice to see you awake.”
“Exactly how long was I asleep?”
“Two days.”
“Two days?” I shriek. “I slept for two whole days?”
“Yes and no.” She folds her arms across her chest.
“What did you do?”
“Me? I’m hurt,” she says around a tight smile.
“Violet, please.”
“Sorry, I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”
“Or prepare me for the bad news?” My brows quirk up and she laughs softly.
“I think you came back snarkier.”
“Came back?”
“What do you remember?”
“I’ve been through this. I remember fighting with Sol. After, I came up to my room and tried deep meditation. I thought if I visualized them enough I might dream of them again.”
“And then?”
“And then I woke up and everyone’s acting like I almost died.”
“You can remember being here at the house? Before the argument with Sol?”
“Yes,” I answer not knowing where she’s going with this. “They brought me here because they thought Amalia was the big bad. She’s not by the way,” I add. “But I guess you already knew that.”
“Amalia is just another innocent in all of this.”
“Is she... okay?”
“She’s fine. She misses you something crazy though. So does Greyson. But back to my original question. What can you remember about your time in the house with the guys?”
I inhale a calming breath and go inside myself, searching through the memories. Ross cooking me breakfast. Endo forcing me to play Scrabble. “You came to visit.”
“I did. What else?”
“If you know what you want me to say, why not just tell me?”
“Humor me,” she says with a little flick of her head.
Forcing myself to focus, I scan through the days since arriving here up until the argument with Sol. My cheeks heat as I recall the stolen kisses and gentle touches. The guys have been more tactile with me since being here. Well, except Sol but that’s nothing—
Oh God, a new set of memories pour in.
“Terra, what is it? What do you remember?”
“I...” the words die on my lips.
“It’s okay, I promise.”
“I kissed them. All of them.” My cheeks flush.
“I don’t think they were complaining.”
“But I didn’t just kiss them...” I can’t look her in the eye. She knows. Somehow, she already knows what I’m not brave enough to say. I’ve changed since being here.
“Gaia,” her name falls from my mouth like a curse. “She was hungry.”
“At first that’s what we thought, yes.”
“We?”
“Cael called me a few days ago worried about you. You told me too. Can you remember?”
“I remember.” God, I remember it all. How I felt around the guys. How I wanted—no, needed—more. Wanting to devour them. To take control over them.
“Four days ago, you and Sol...” she smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes and dread pools in my stomach.
“Me and Sol what, Violet?” I fist the sheets strewn around my body. Something lingers just out of reach. The hazy sensation of a memory.
“You should really talk to him about that but afterwards you got sick.”
“Sick?”
I shriek. “Sick how?”
“You were hexed, Terra.”
“Hexed?” I sink into the cushions with a shaky breath. “So it wasn’t Gaia making me act all crazy?”
“Yes and no. Gaia’s spirit is inside you. There's no disputing that. But you are the conduit. You can draw on her powers but it’s not a two-way link. She shouldn’t be able to take control. It doesn’t work like that. My best theory is the hex caused a temporary fracture and her spirit leaked out.”
“Leaked out, right.” I rub my temples trying to process what she’s saying.
“I know this is confusing and scary.”
“No, I really don’t think you do.” It’s one thing to have a primordial goddess’ spirit inside you but knowing she could leak out and start making me act like a sexually starved woman was... well, I can’t wrap my head around that.
“You said it was a hex? How do you know for certain?”
“Because I found the hex mark in your dorm room at Earhart.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry I asked.”
“I did a removal spell, but the hex was already deep, hence your two-day nap.”
“This is... wow, just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder. I still don’t have all my memories. Is that normal?”
“They should return slowly but it’s possible you won’t remember anything from when the hex was at its strongest.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, still trying to process everything. “I guess I won’t be returning to Earhart anytime soon.” There is no way the guys will let me anywhere near there now.
As if she hears my thoughts, Violet says, “Actually, don’t be too sure. Do you remember what we talked about?” I nod. “I think we need to bring it forward.”
“How forward?”
“How long do you think it’ll take to convince the guys this is the only plan?” She gives me a pointed look. “We have to assume whoever hexed you is a witch or has a witch doing their bidding.”
“Amalia?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve watched her like a hawk. She’s innocent.”
“Someone else in the coven?”
“I trust them all with my life, Terra.”
“Okay, so it’s not someone in the coven but it’s someone who had access to Earhart. Someone at school?”