The air crackled with electricity as the wind picked up and tossed her hair around wildly. I felt it whipping at my own clothes but paid little attention. Despite my rising anger, I was concentrating on keeping in control. “So? Do you have anything to say?”
“I thought I was doing what was best for you. I’m sorry, Sora.” Her voice rasped barely above a whisper, and I almost had to ask her to repeat herself over the gusting wind.
A deep rumble shook the earth beneath my feet, making me wobble. My mother lurched forward into me, almost sending us both down into a graceless heap on the hard ground. Her eyes grew wide and filled with more fear than I’d ever seen. Ever. “Oh, no. They’re coming.”
Before I had a chance to ask who they were, a sphere of light burst into being behind her, making me squint as it brightened and grew. When it reached the size of a doorway, three shadowy figures stepped through the pulsing portal, their outlines barely visible against the intense golden light. My mother latched on to me, her fingers digging into my flesh as we stumbled around to face the advancing figures.
The light throbbed for a few seconds, then drew back in upon itself until it vanished in a tiny dot. I blinked at the sudden darkness and rubbed my eyes. My mother still had a death grip on me, and the fear emanating from her was palpable, making my hands grow cold and my mouth go dry.
As my vision returned to normal, I noted the three figures in front of me to be decidedly male, and standing in a perfect line, carbon copies of each other. They wore the navy blue uniform of the Fae High Guard, the fabric so crisp you couldn’t even consider slouching in it. Shiny, black boots completed the somber ensemble, and the hard glint in their eyes matched the stern set of their jaws.
I’d heard many stories from my father about the Fae High Guard. Many of them scary as hell, usually ending with someone dead or severely maimed. I had no clue as to why three of them were suddenly standing in my backyard, interrupting the long overdue face off with my mother.
“And you are?” I might be confused and afraid, but my mouth was always the last to know about these things.
The soldier in the center stepped forward, his eyes an indigo blue that matched his shirt. “Your escorts back to the Hidden Realm.”
“We can make it just fine, thanks. Besides, we were kind of in the middle of something, here, you know?” A decidedly weak and nervous smile turned up the corners of my mouth, hoping they’d get the message.
The guard pressed his lips together in a tight, joyless smile, giving me a once over with enough ice in it to chill my blood. “You are under the impression that you have a choice in the matter. You do not. Come with us now, and no one has to get hurt.” He cocked his head to the side. “Much.”
Lord and Lady.
Chapter Five
“Ummm…listen, dude, I think you’re confused. There’s no need to get violent, here.” I gave a light chuckle in an attempt to diffuse the situation with humor.
Stone-face wasn’t having it. He scowled at me, his eyes shooting icy daggers of death. “It’s you who doesn’t understand. We were sent by the High Council to complete the job your mother failed to do. She insisted that allowing you to believe you had a choice would be the correct route. Obviously, she was mistaken.”
I swung my gaze to the wide blue eyes of my mother. Sadness tinged the fear in their depths, confirming the guard’s statement. Durin’s words from earlier echoed in my head.
Making you believe you have a choice in the matter is just part of their game.
A lump rose into my throat, constricting it tightly. “Why?” I croaked out.
The guard jerked his shoulders up in a shrug. “Why is irrelevant. What matters is that you are to come with us. Now.”
I glanced at my mother again, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “I’m sorry, Sora. I thought I could keep you safe from the Council if you had no idea what was going on. They wanted to steal your magic for themselves, because—”
“Silence!” The booming voice of the angry guard made me jump as it rent the air. “The decision of the council is all that matters. You both are to come with us to face final judgment.”
Anger bubbled its way into my gut again, sending tendrils of heat out like little snakes. “I am sick to death of the Council trying to run my life. I decide where I go and who I go with. And I’m certainly not going anywhere with you ass-hats.”
My mother emitted an astonished gasp a little to my right. “Sora, please.”
“Listen to your mother, child. She’s seen these last few months just what the Council is capable of to further their desires.”
The horror implied in those words made my gut clench. I didn’t want to imagine what they’d subjected my mother to or what she’d witnessed. Durin hadn’t been lying when he’d warned me that the Hidden Realm had changed and was no longer safe. Things were supposed to have gotten better after the Fairy War. Instead, they seemed to have gotten worse. Much worse.
“And if I refuse to comply with your request?” I spit the words at him with as much venom as I could. Fear and anger seemed to make my smart-ass mouth kick into overdrive.
The two rear guards stepped forward so that they touched shoulders with their spokesman. Their weighty glares packed as much of a wallop as one of my own. “Our instructions are to make sure that you remain breathing. Beyond that, anything goes.” He smiled widely, showing white teeth in a sneer that made dread ball itself up in my chest. “But those same restrictions don’t apply to any unfortunate soul that gets in our way.”
Oh. No. He. Didn’t. Threatening my friends and family here in the Mortal Realm was just a step too damn far. The anger barely simmering inside me reached its boiling point and snaked heat through my veins. I narrowed my eyes, feeling it build to new heights as I returned the glares of the guard threefold. “Back. Off. Douche-bags.”
Confusion knitted the brows of the three guards for a few beats before they recovered and stepped forward, poised and ready for a fight.
My mother placed a shaking hand on my shoulder. “Sora. I don’t think this is a good idea.”
I shrugged her off, flexing my fingers at my sides as the air thickened around us in the backyard. The gray sky deepened further as clouds swirled into various funnels in the sky. The wind churned around us tearing at everyone’s clothes. For the first time since the guards stepped from the portal, their steel-tinted eyes reflected fear. Cool.
“I think it would be in your best interest to return through whatever slimy portal you guys crawled from and leave us the hell alone.” My voice stayed even and calm, even as my insides surged with fiery fury that I could feel pulsing hotly in my fingertips.
“What you think doesn’t matter, child. What does matter is that I’m going to truly enjoy putting you in your place.” He raised his hands into fists that glowed with white magic, the men at his rear echoing the gesture.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” In one smooth gesture, I raised my hands and let loose with a blast of white-hot magic. It erupted in an explosion strong enough to blow us all backward. My butt landed on the hard ground solidly, shooting pain down my legs. My mother sprawled in a tangled heap of blue fabric at my side, shrieking the whole time. Smoke wafted through the air. I shook my head and scrambled to my feet, my legs shaky. I got my balance just in time to have a strong hand grab me roughly by the arm.
“It seems the Council has a right to be worried about your powers. A fairy as young as you should not be able to wield such magic.”
The Council is worried? I can give them something to really worry about. “Wield this, dork-face.” I jerked my arm from his grasp and placed my hand on his chest, sending another blast of magic straight into him, point blank. The smell of cooking flesh assaulted my nose as he screamed and staggered backward, the fabric of his shirt in flames. He dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt like he was having a spastic fit of some kind. Stop, drop, and roll, jerk-wad.
I coughed and glanced past him to where the two ot
her guards were climbing to their feet. The tips of my fingers glowed as I shoved a blast of magic in their direction, catching one of them in the shoulder. He bellowed in pain as the other one sent a powerful stream my way, barely missing my head as I ducked to avoid the attack. His explosion hit the tree behind me with a blaze of heat that threatened to singe my ponytail.
Just as I was preparing another magical retaliation, a blur of grey fur blazed past me with a shrill howl and bowled over the two men. The soldiers tumbled head over heels in the dirt, cursing obscenities at the wily beast. I couldn’t help but chuckle as the thing made another pass at the men as they tried to get up, knocking them both down once more. This time they stayed still, their moans of pain joining the ones emanating from their crispy comrade a few feet away.
The animal plodded over to me, and I could now tell it was a wolf. Its tongue lolled out as it sat on its haunches, regarding me with two large amber eyes.
“Derrick?”
The wolf howled again, walked over to me, and nuzzled my hand with his nose. I’ll be damned. I patted the scruff of his head. “Thanks, bro.”
He whined and padded over to where the first guard lay, growling fiercely every time the man moved so much as an inch, keeping guard over him.
I smiled and made my way over to my mother, who was still yelling like a banshee. “Mother! It’s okay! Please, I’m going deaf, here!”
She ceased her wailing long enough to let me help pull her to her feet. She coughed at the smoke still twirling in the air and brushed the dirt from her dress. “What happened? Are you hurt? Are we dead?”
I shook my head. “No, we’re not dead. But I feel it’s my explicit duty to ask you, what the hell is going on?” I propped my hands on my hips impatiently.
She continued to fuss over the dirt staining the folds of her skirt, deliberately not meeting my gaze. “Really, Sora. The language these mortals have you using is quite vulgar and beneath your station.”
“Muh-ther!” Pure frustration fueled the strangled sound I made as I stomped my foot. Thunder boomed around us to punctuate the action.
My mother stilled and finally managed to meet my gaze with a heavy sigh. “What do you want me to say?”
Really? It’s going to go down like this? “Is the truth so much to ask from you? I had to find out from Durin that something hinky was going on. Why is that?”
At the mention of Durin’s name, my mother perked up, her blue eyes rapt with attention. “Durin? You spoke with Durin? Is he all right?”
My shoulders jerked up in a shrug. “I guess. He seemed pretty freaked out and cryptic. Is there a reason why he wouldn’t be all right?”
My mother’s delicate hands flew to her head, cradling it as she shook it with dismay. “Things have gotten so out of control, I don’t know what end is up anymore.” She sniffed and dropped her hands to her side to gaze sadly at me. “I wish your father were here. He’d know what to do.”
The mention of my father’s absence was like a knife in the heart, taking my breath away. He had died fighting for what he believed in, even though it hadn’t made him the most popular person in the Hidden Realm. And he had always encouraged me to do the same.
She reached out and clasped my chin in her dainty fingers. “You are so much like him, it pains me sometimes.”
With grief darkening her blue eyes, my mother continued. “He let his heart guide his actions always and damn the consequences. Where he found his strength, I’ll never know. I will never be as strong as he was.” She looked me pointedly in the eye, gripping my chin firmly. “Or as strong as you are, my darling daughter.”
My breath hitched in my chest. For the first time in my life, I felt my mother actually loved me. I wasn’t some black spot on her lineage. I was just…her daughter. “Then please, explain what is going on.”
As she opened her mouth, pinpoint of light flashed to her right, making her release my chin and slide her arm around my shoulder as she moved in close to me. The light brightened, growing into a shape much like the one that had brought the three downed guards our way. Great. Another portal.
A male figure stepped from the fiery doorway, his tall form illuminated from behind. This time the portal remained open as he made his way over to us and my body flooded with relief, as I was able to glimpse a pair of all too familiar blue eyes.
“Durin!” I stood on my tiptoes and threw my arms around his neck in a tight hug.
He hugged me back, even throwing me a smile as he stepped back from me. His expression sobered as he glanced over at my mother. “Shaylee.” He gave a curt nod, which she returned, her eyes glassy with tears.
The tension between them was hard to miss, and there was an underlying current of something else I couldn’t put my finger on. Secrets seemed to be everywhere, anymore.
Durin took in the scene in the backyard, eyeing the fallen guards with keen interest. “I knew they’d send an envoy to collect you, but I had no idea they’d send members of the Fae High Guard.” He turned to me, his brow furrowed with concern. “But you are not injured?”
I shook my head, the hot anger inside my gut cooling considerably. The wind died down, the charge in the air dissipating. I took a deep breath, and the sky even returned to its earlier state of blue.
My mother looked around with an expression of awe and…pride? “You’ve become more adept at controlling your powers.”
I stared at her dumbly. Was this the same woman who only moments ago was talking about turning me into a miniature version of herself?
Durin cast a pointed look at my mother, his jaw set in a firm line. “I doubt the Council will attempt another retrieval any time soon, given that Sora felled three of their guards. Even so, you are now in as much danger as I am.”
They traded another knowing look that made me squirm with impatience at my lack of information. “Ugh. You guys are making me crazy.” I turned to Durin. “Why does the Council want my powers?” I turned to my mother. “And why did you lie to me?”
Durin gripped my shoulder gently with a sigh. “Little one, there are things set in motion that are beyond your comprehension right now. It is safer that you not know the details of why the Council wishes to relieve you of your magic. But it’s safe to say that merely doing so would be a political coup they would reap many rewards from for years to come, so let’s leave it at that.”
I pondered his words for few moments. My father had been high on the Council’s list of people they hated, even though he technically fought on their side of the Fairy War. Having Kiernan Starwind’s daughter under their thumbs would be a strategic move that would garner much attention.
“But why lie to me? And why let me be banished?”
My mother clasped her hands in front of her slim waist as she gazed at me, those unshed tears still glistening in her eyes. “I thought I was doing the right thing at the time. And then, I really believed that if I brought you back myself, I could keep you safe. Come to find out, you’re safer here than any other place, and you obviously have powerful friends that will fight to protect you. Better than I can, even.”
A shuffling behind us caught my attention, followed by a pain-filled moan. I spun to find the two guards Derrick had sent sprawling attempting to crawl to their feet.
“We still seem to have a slight problem to take care of, here.” Durin’s lips clamped together in a thin line as he rummaged in his coat pocket, extracting something totally obscured by his large fingers. When he opened his hand, three small gray stones lay in the center of his palm, looking like nothing more than bits of gravel from a driveway.
“What are those?” I asked, my nose wrinkling.
“Scatter Stones. The ancient magic they carry within is more powerful than even that wielded by the eldest of the High Council.”
“What do they do?”
“Watch.” Durin used his other hand to cover the stones. Light from his magic seeped between his fingers, creating a ball of golden heat that warmed my face. When he removed his
hand, the stones glowed a bright yellow-orange, like smoldering coals from a fire. He reared his arm back and hurled the stones toward the guards. They stopped mid air, like they were stuck in some invisible glue, and began to spin. As the speed picked up, each stone created a swirling vortex that spun wildly. A roaring sound filled my ears. Derrick whined and ran off, taking refuge from the tornado of wind. I steadied myself against the pull, amazed at the force created by something so small.
Durin protectively moved us a bit further back as the stones spun even faster, pulling and tugging dirt and debris into the air. The guard I’d blasted at close range gave a muffled groan as he was picked up off the ground and yanked roughly to one of the spinning portals. The other two were more aware of what was happening, fear evident in their wild expressions. They clawed and scraped at the earth as they, too, were lifted up and pulled toward the spinning lights. The portals crackled with life and electricity as the men were swallowed by the light, disappearing with a loud sucking sound that ended abruptly when all three vanished, portals and all. I gaped in disbelief.
“Where did they go?”
“It’s probably best we don’t think of such things. Needless to say, they shouldn’t trouble you anymore.”
I still wasn’t completely sure about everything that had happened, but at least, the imminent danger seemed to have passed. I turned to my mother. “Now what?”
“Now, my darling daughter, I must go.” She smiled wistfully, the sadness in her eyes evident. “There will be fallout from the Council’s failed attempt. No doubt, they will do what they can to save face. It is for that reason alone that I must go back, and that you will be safe. At least for awhile.” She tucked a stray strand of hair that had escaped my ponytail behind my ear. “You’re growing up so fast, Sora. My biggest regret is not being there for you through all of this.”
Hell House Books 1-3: The First Three Hell House Novellas in One Box Set Page 7