Fragile Brilliance (Shifters & Seers)

by Blackwell, Tammy

  “We’re having a barbecue this afternoon.” Talley moved the hand that had been resting on Maggie’s forearm to link into the crook of her elbow. “Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and an entire freezer full of Grater’s ice cream. Some honest-to-shiny real food with real people wearing real clothes.”

  “That sounds nice, but…” Maggie knew she should stop letting Talley lead her to the door, but the picture Talley was painting was so tempting.

  “We live just outside of town,” Scout said from somewhere over Maggie’s right shoulder. “Lots of grass. You can get away from campus and actually breathe a little. No obligation. We just want a chance for us all to get to know each other a little better.”

  Maggie turned to meet Scout’s pale blue eyes. “But why? Why would you want to get to know me?”

  Scout’s eyebrows rose just a fraction of an inch. “Because you’re special.”

  Chapter 5

  While Scout and Talley might have dressed like normal, middle class people, the vehicle waiting for them just outside the cafeteria gave away their true Rodeo Drive roots.

  “Ladies.” A wannabe Gap model opened the door to the shiny black Escalade dramatically.

  “Excellent timing,” Talley said, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek. Not satisfied with the fleeting contact, the guy turned and kissed her fully on the mouth long and hard enough Maggie had to look away, her cheeks flaming. They didn’t stop until Scout made a comment about the strength of her gag reflex.

  When Maggie finally looked their direction again, Talley’s lips were red and swollen and little lights danced in her eyes. “Jase, this is Maggie. She’s joining us for dinner. Maggie, this is Jase.”

  Jase’s arm was snagged around Talley’s waist. They were a pairing that didn’t really look like they belonged together - Talley was too curvy to be a Gap model and Jase was too athletic and self-assured for a sweet girl-next-door type - but there was no denying they were in love. Maggie was a little surprised by the twang of jealousy she felt. She didn’t have the time or desire to join the rest of her classmates in a boyfriend hunt, but she would have to have a heart of steel to not want someone to look at her the way Jase was looking at Talley.

  “Glad to see you finally came to your senses,” Jase said, nodding his head in acknowledgement of the introduction. “I was starting to think we were going to have to send Liam after you since Scout forbade the rest of us from doing anything.”

  “Am I supposed to know this Liam guy?” They all said his name as if he was a Marvel superhero or something.

  “Liam Cole.” Jase waited for a reaction. Since the name didn’t ring a bell, a quizzical expression was all she could muster. “She doesn’t know who Liam is?”

  His question was aimed at Scout, but Talley answered. “Maggie wasn’t really looking to join any of the school’s secret societies. Scout is recruiting her.”

  “Secret society?”

  “Secret society,” Scout said. “You know, the thing you’re going to get kicked out of if you don’t stop making out with your girlfriend in public and start getting me back to the farm?” Her eyes darted around the small campus. “All these people are making my skin crawl.” When Jase didn’t immediately move, she made a shooing motion with her hand. “Yip-yip.”

  Jase’s eyes narrowed as he released Talley and moved out from in front of the open car door. “I am not your air buffalo.”

  “But everybody’s got an air buffalo,” Scout said, climbing into the backseat. “Mine is fast, but yours is slow.”

  “Where did we get them?”

  “I don’t know. But everybody’s got an air buffalo.”

  Talley scrambled up into the passenger’s seat and gave Maggie, who was crawling in beside Scout, a sympathetic look over her shoulder. “Ignore them. These two have taken twin language to an art form.”

  Maggie looked back and forth between the girl beside her and the boy getting into the driver’s seat. Thanks to all the news coverage surrounding Scout’s disappearance, she knew Jase was Scout’s brother, but she couldn’t see even a trace of resemblance. Scout was long and lithe, her appearance and attitude reminding Maggie of a beautiful but deadly icicle. Jase had a more rangy build and everything from his sun-kissed skin to sparkling green eyes brought to mind warm grassy fields.

  “Go ahead and say it,” Scout said.

  “Say what?”

  “We don’t look like twins. It’s okay. Everyone says it.”

  Maggie thought about it. Sure, she’d been cataloging their differences, but she would have never pointed them out. “I’m not everyone,” she finally said. “I figure you guys know what you look like.”

  “It’s okay,” Jase said. “Scout already knows I’m the good-looking one. You don’t have to tip-toe around it.”

  Scout reached over and flicked her brother on the ear. “You know, it’s days like this I’m glad we don’t share DNA. I don’t have to worry about my future children turning out like you.”

  Maggie looked back and forth between the Donovans, trying to figure out what was going on. She felt like she’d accidentally skipped an important episode in this story arc.

  “They’re not biological twins,” Talley explained, saving Maggie’s poor brain from exploding. “Their parents got married when they were babies, and as they grew up, they somehow forgot they didn’t have any shared blood and became the most twin-like twins you’ve ever seen.”

  Maggie muttered something about things finally making sense, but inside she was having a sappy, sentimental moment. Choosing your twin sounded like the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. No wonder the two of them seemed so confident. How could you not be when someone picked you to be their other half?

  It didn’t take long for the town to fall away and give way to rolling hills. Maggie’s grandfather had driven her straight to the school when he was moving her in, so she hadn’t been able to explore the area surrounding the small town of Chinoe where Sanders was located. The fields were emerald green, rising and falling until they disappeared into a line of trees. Horses dotted the landscape, and even knowing nothing about thoroughbreds or the racing industry, she knew she was looking at animals who cost more than the fully quipped luxury SUV she was riding in. You could tell where one giant farm ended and the next began by the color and style of fence lining the road. When a black fence gave way to one made of stone, Jase slowed down.

  “Fenrir Farm?” Maggie asked as Jase punched a code into a gate marked as a service entrance.

  “Apparently when a farm costs over a million dollars, you have to name the stupid thing,” he said as the gate swung open. “Liam thought it would be a good idea for Scout to name it, and Scout thought Fenrir Farm would be hysterical. This is just one shining example of why we encourage the Alphas to not think.”

  Something in Maggie’s gut clenched at the mention of Alphas, but then the car turned off the main drive and she caught her first glimpse of the main house.

  Once, in fifth grade, her class took a field trip to an actual southern plantation. The house was one of those grand white affairs with big windows and sprawling porches begging you to put on a sundress and enjoy some ice-cold sweet tea. The only differences between that house and the one at Fenrir Farm was the one she was looking at now was made of stone and wood and was at least twice the size of the one she’d seen in fifth grade.

  Jase brought the Escalade to a stop by a pond so big it might qualify as a lake. The wooden dock was at least forty feet long, and it didn’t come close to reaching quarter-of-the-way-across mark. A pavilion built in the same style as the house sat near the edge of the water. A fireplace filled the back wall and a bank of grills lined the far side. A guy who looked like he could be a professional quarterback was standing in front of one, flipping burgers, while a few other people lounged on the collection of picnic tables.

  “This is beautiful,” Maggie said, meaning it. Her hands itched with a desire to commit the scenery to paper. “Who lives here?”<
br />
  Scout’s face said she’d asked a stupid question. “We do.”

  “We who?” From the maps they’d flashed on CNN, she thought that Scout and Jase lived in another part of Kentucky.

  “We,” Scout said, spinning her finger around in an all-encompassing circle. “This is The Den. Well, the U.S. branch of The Den. The real one is still in Romania, obviously.”

  “Obviously,” Maggie agreed, although she wasn’t sure what she was agreeing to. This was Scout’s secret society’s version of a frat house? No wonder everyone wanted to join. Even though most of the school’s population came from wealthy families, she doubted they all grew up in places like this. The freaking pavilion probably cost more than her family had seen in her lifetime.

  “So… do you want to get out, or do you plan on sitting here and staring at my house all day?”

  Maggie felt heat creep into her cheeks. “Sorry,” she said, grabbing ahold of the door handle. “I’ve just never seen a house this big before. My home could probably fit in your garage.” There was no use lying about it. If Scout and her fellow club members were really interested in having her join, then they probably knew all about her anyway. Wasn’t that the way these things worked?

  Even though she was surrounded by strangers and was so far out her comfort zone she couldn’t find it with a telescope, Maggie calmed the moment her feet hit the ground. The storm the day before had left perfect late summer weather in its wake. The sun was warm, but not so much you felt like your skin was baking. A slight breeze danced over the perfectly manicured lawn making the whole place smell like a bottle of fabric softener. Maggie slid a toe off the edge of her sandal, a smile creeping up on her face from the feel of the soft grass and damp earth.

  “Where is everyone?” Jase asked, hopping up onto the top of a picnic table and snagging a handful of potato chips.

  A girl who stood taller than most every guy there made a big production of looking over both of her shoulders, her waist-long blond hair swishing back and forth from the force of the motion. “We’re here,” she said with a thick Eastern European accent.

  Jase crammed a few more chips into his mouth. “Charlie isn’t.”

  “Charlie hardly counts as ‘everyone’.” Maggie couldn’t tell if she was actually disgusted with Jase or if her accent just made her sound like she hated the fact he was ever born. From the look a girl with orange hair and freckles shot Mother Russia, it was the second.

  “He’s out looking for Layne,” said the orange-haired kid, who looked all of twelve.

  What kind of college group was this?

  “Where has the little demon run off to this time?”

  The question came from Scout, who was predictably standing apart from the crowd, hovering somewhere between where everyone was gathered on the tables and the quarterback at what was really more of an outdoor kitchen than a line of grills.

  Jase leaned back on his elbows and shot his sister a superior look. “If Lizzie knew where he was, Charlie wouldn’t be out looking for him, now would he?”

  Scout’s oh-so mature response was to stick out her tongue.

  “I don’t suppose you can See lost things, can you?” The kid, who was apparently named Lizzie, asked Maggie.

  “Lost things?”

  “Sorry, we’ve been rude,” the giantess with the accent said. “I’m Mischa, and this is Lizzie. We serve under Talley. Aunt Rachel, Michelle, and Marie,” she nodded at an old lady and two girls who appeared to be in their late twenties, “also serve, but they don’t normally stay here. They run the Archives, but they came in for the hustings.” A head tilt in the other direction took Maggie’s attention to another girl in her twenties. This one had a very pin-up look going on with her pouty lips and sexy curves, and she looked as socially uncomfortable as Maggie felt. “That’s Imogen. She’s new.”

  “Hi,” Maggie said, trying to make sense of anything Mischa just said. At least she understood the names, even if there were more of them than she could remember. “I’m Maggie.”

  “Yes, we know,” Mischa said. “You know, you really should have attended the hustings when Scout requested your presence. Trust me, I served under Sarvarna. I know what used to happen when someone disobeyed the Alpha Female. Thankfully, Scout is a bit more forgiving.”

  “Actually, guys…“ Maggie thought that came from Scout, but she couldn’t really hear over the words ‘Alpha Female’ repeating over and over in her head. “…Maggie isn’t a Seer.”

  Lizzie’s face lit up. “Another female Shifter? Awesome! No wonder you were avoiding us.”

  Maggie took a few steps backwards, but then her knees buckled and she couldn’t move another step. From her count, there were thirteen of them. Thirteen. And one of them was the Alpha Female. Her eyes flicked to the guy who had abandoned the food to stare at her along with everyone else. Everything in her said this was the Alpha Male. There was literally nothing she could do. If it was only one or two, and if they weren’t the most powerful one or two Shifters on earth, then maybe, but as it stood, she was completely defenseless. She couldn’t outrun them, and she sure as hell couldn’t fight them.

  She was as good as dead.

  That thought propelled her. She ran, kicking off her sandals as she went so she could move faster. If she could only make it to one of the barns she might be able to barricade the walls. It was a long shot, she knew it, but it was better than just standing there and waiting for the worst to happen.

  She hadn’t truly been watching where she was going, spending more time looking over her shoulder at the wolves who were still standing in place, giving her enough of a head start to make the chase fun.

  Thank the heavens for arrogant mistakes, Maggie thought, finding just enough energy to quicken her pace. A second later, she realized that thought should have been directed at herself as she collided into another body with enough force they both went flying. Long arms made a cage around her; one hand sprawled over her head as they crashed to the ground.

  Even before she could draw a breath, she was struggling.

  “Shhhh…. It’s okay,” a male voice said in her ear. “No one here wants to hurt you.”

  Maggie might have laughed if she wasn’t so close to the edge of hysterical tears. No one wanted to hurt her? Of course not. After all, Shifters were well known for inviting her kind to their dens for a friendly cookout.

  Right. And Hitler invited the nice Jewish family from down the street over for the holidays.

  “I swear on an allegiance older than time that my sword and the full power of the heavens will protect you.”

  Maggie stopped resisting, not so much because she felt safe, but because her brain was too busy trying to process what he was saying.

  An age-old allegiance. Sword. The heavens.

  She was being held down by an Immortal? An Immortal who was in league with the Shifters?

  What. The. Hell.

  “We come in peace,” said a voice she recognized as belonging to Jase. She tilted her head, and sure enough, most of the Shifters and Seers had caught up to them and stood in a loose circle around where she was still trapped beneath the Immortal’s body. Any fight left in her quickly jumped ship. There was no chance of escape. Either the Immortal was right, or she was dead. Whichever it was, there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She released a shuttering breath and said, “I would like to get up now.”

  “No running?” The Immortal asked. She shook her head and he pulled back just enough to look in her eyes. She took a second to note how young he looked. “I mean it,” he said. “No one here is going to hurt you.”

  He did seem sincere, and knowing that made Maggie relax just a little.

  A relaxation, which lasted all of two seconds.

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Joshua,” said an unfamiliar male voice. As Joshua disengaged himself from her body, she could see the quarterback standing on the edge of the group, his body standing protectively in front of Scout.

  Joshu
a stood and offered her his hand. “The moment she realized what you mangy mutts are, she freaked out and started running. I hardly think she’s here by choice.”

  The quarterback’s hard eyes didn’t leave Maggie’s face. She fought the urge to pull Joshua back on top of her as a shield.

  “She entered the Alpha Pack’s territory. Not a smart move for a Thaumaturgic.”

  “I didn’t know.” What came out was more of a croak than a voice, but Maggie was surprised anything at all had managed to make past her lips. “I… I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be here. I just wanted to go to school.” The realization she might never see the campus again made her feel a strange sense of affection for the tiny clump of buildings. “I just wanted to go to school,” she said again, this time tears evident in her voice.

  She’d been discovered by Shifters. It was a fate all Thaumaturgics feared. No matter what their gift - an affinity for earth, wind, fire, or any other element or object - Thaumaturgics were no match for Shifters.

  How did things go so horribly wrong? Was she getting what she deserved? Is this what came from wanting something too much, so much you were willing to sacrifice everything else to have it? For wanting more than what you have with such fierce longing you can’t even consider failure?

  “Liam,” Talley said from her spot slightly behind Jase. When no one responded, she said it again, with more force. “Liam!”

  The quarterback finally tore his eyes from Maggie and directed his intense gaze at Talley, who didn’t flinch like Maggie would have. “The hamburgers are burning,” she said calmly.

  Liam blinked, looked back at the grills, then at Maggie, and finally settled on Scout.

  “I don’t like mine well done,” she said. “The ends get all crunchy and gross.” He didn’t move, so Scout poked him in the arm. “You’re scaring the poor girl, and I’m more than capable of taking care of myself and my people. If you keep insinuating I can’t, I’m going to get irritated and throw you into a tree. Again.”