by Patti Larsen
“I promise,” I said, really meaning it for the first time. He’d done his part. And I would make sure he had what he wanted in return.
It was the least I could do.
Luck, so far on our side, seemed to be holding. Charlotte nodded as we approached, giving the all clear as Demetrius, now happy again, led us out on his noisy shoes. The staircase passed to our left, the doorway we’d come through on our way to the office still ajar. Home free.
Oh, Syd. Silly Syd. Since when?
Charlotte grabbed my arm shoved me physically through the door, just as the large front entry swung open. I crouched next to her, breathing hard, and watched from the crack she’d left open as Liander Belaisle and his two main goons walked in.
They weren’t alone. Not by a long shot. Trill and Owen were with them.
Marvelous. Now what?
“Show these two to their room.” Belaisle gestured over his shoulder as he began to walk toward the office we’d just left. Trill hugged her brother with one arm while the pair of sorcerers half bowed to their leader.
Trill. I’d forgotten my maji power in all of this. But no, I couldn’t feel it either. I still had to try.
Her head snapped up, eyes locking on mine behind the glare on her glasses. She froze for an instant as I winced.
Hang tight, I sent, hoping the message made it through. We’ll get you out of here somehow.
She didn’t respond. At least not to me. Instead, she turned toward where Belaisle was disappearing behind the staircase.
“Sydlynn is here,” she said, pointing at my hiding place. “And she’s powerless.”
***
Chapter Twenty Seven
Angry? What was angry? Raging? Had nothing on me. More like a pyroclastic meltdown with a side order of hell no.
I was not pacing the thick, cream carpet of a second floor bedroom with my hands so tightly fisted I couldn’t feel them anymore. Nor was my wereguard prone on the matching comforter with some kind of liquid metal shoved in her mouth and wrapped around her head, the same oozing stuff pinning her arms and legs so tightly all she could do was tremble and stare at me with desperate eyes.
No, we were not trapped, prisoners, turned in by the very two kids I’d done everything I possibly could in my power to keep safe.
Hell. No.
Maybe if I’d had access to my magic, things would have turned out differently, though part of me doubted it. Not after Trill’s blatant betrayal pinpointed our location. Charlotte tried to save me, diving in my way, yelling for me to run even as Demetrius’s keening echoed in my head as he rushed the two sorcerers coming my way.
I couldn’t leave them, but how could I stay? Belaisle reappeared, smiled. Hit me with something I couldn’t see but, could I feel it, oh boy, yes. Like a freight train taking out a brick wall while the whole world exploded.
Nighty-night, Syd.
At least when I woke, I was intact. No broken anything. Just a headache and a whole lot of pent up anger I then took out on various furnishings now lying scattered in pieces on the soft, deep carpet.
Even without power, I could still manage to make a mess.
Charlotte’s bindings worried me, especially at first. She struggled so hard I thought she might hurt herself. But the moment I touched her shoulder, my tantrum over, she calmed, though the despair in her eyes never left her, not for the entire hour I paced back and forth, checking on her over and over again, trying to pry the nasty stuff from her lips only to have it try to wind its way around my fingers.
I still had no clue what happened to Demetrius. I could only image he was either gone, escaped, or also in Belaisle’s custody. And while I really didn’t like the crazy demon-man, I’d lost my hate for him.
Besides, I still owed him and I meant to pay that debt.
No windows. Just one door, locked. No amount of pounding on it seemed to elicit a response, not even when I beat on the polished surface with the splintered leg of a rather expensive looking chair. Hit something hard enough against a wall and it will break apart eventually.
So I had a weapon, just in case. The heft of the length of solid wood felt good in my hands. But who was I kidding? Another blow like the one that took me down and I’d be in pain-riddled snoozeland all over again.
The same metal holding Charlotte sealed the edges of the door. So I couldn’t even peek out from underneath. Yes, I tried. And the lock was modern, no keyhole to use for spying. Frustration central. At least the vampire mansion had the good grace to offer old-fashioned options.
I decided right then and there I hated modern homes and if I had the chance, I’d take this one apart personally.
Charlotte grunted, body twisting, giving me just enough notice to turn with my chunk of wood at the ready as the door seal sighed open. I leaped for the exit, chair leg at the attack, only to stagger back as Owen fell through, practically into my arms, the pair of us landing hard on the floor. I looked up just in time to see Trill stagger her way inside, flinging my weapon toward the door with all my strength. Too late, the thing thudded shut, my badly-aimed throw bouncing the heavy leg sideways and almost hitting Trill.
“Watch it,” she snapped.
Oh no she didn’t.
I pushed Owen aside, ignoring his cry of pain as I leaped to my feet and lunged at her. Wanted to grab her, shake her to pieces, scream my head off. Didn’t. Went for cold instead, knowing if I opened that can of very antagonistic worms I’d regret it when she was dead.
Well. Maybe.
“What. The. Hell.”
Trill’s anger was gone as she stepped back away from me, rubbing her arm. Someone must have been gripping it tightly because she winced when she touched it. Either that or her expression was for me.
“You’re not supposed to be here.” Bitter, angry, yes. But sad, too. Enough I didn’t freak out.
Proud of me?
“There had better be a damned good reason why you tossed your only chance for protection to the wolves.” I spun on Charlotte who glared. “No offense intended.”
Owen stood before sinking to the edge of the bed, hugging himself, not looking at his sister. “I can’t believe you did this, Trill. Syd is our friend.”
So she acted alone. At least I’d only have one murder on my conscience.
Steady, girl. Steady.
Trill turned from us, facing the wall, shoulders shaking. “You don’t understand,” she wailed. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Her brother was on his feet, flying across the room, slamming both fists into her back before I knew his guilt turned to anger. “You did!” He shoved her, hard, Trill impacting the wall with one shoulder, sagging against it, slowly sinking to the floor with her face still turned away, the rocking of her shoulders, the way she clutched her hands to her face telling me, while they were silent, her tears came in giant sobs. “You told me we were going to run, but you led us right to him. Right to him!” Owen stood over her, face mottled red as he yelled at her. “You betrayed all of us, Trill. You betrayed me. And now it’s all over.” He sagged himself, deflating, his internal rage balloon emptying as he spun and put his back to her, so much hurt in him I stepped forward and hugged him to me, though he didn’t hug me back. “I can’t believe you gave up.”
Trill pushed herself to her feet, wiping at her face, glasses dangling from one hand. “I told you,” she whispered. “I didn’t have a choice. And I meant it.”
“Then give me a good reason.” Owen pulled away from me, a shot of anger left. “Just one.”
She nodded, head bobbing, hope gone. “Owen.” She met his eyes at last, hers nearly black with grief. “They have Nona.”
***
Chapter Twenty Eight
Not even I could stay mad after that. The thought of Belaisle having Gram in his clutches made me weak with fear. I could only imagine how the Zornovs felt. I’d grown up supported and loved and sheltered whether I liked it or not.
All they had was each other. And their Nona.
“You weren’t supposed to be here.” Trill shrugged, without anger, without much of anything resembling emotion considering the bombshell she’d just dropped. Though I could only assume some kind of firestorm waited to be born. “Belaisle said if anyone interfered, he’d kill Nona. That we had to cooperate or she was dead.” Trill wrung her hands together, voice still calm while her body struggled to express something, anything. “I had to turn you in when your power touched mine.” She met my eyes, glasses a little fogged around the edges from the remains of her tears. “You would have ruined everything.”
Deep breath. Let it out. And my bubbling fury with it. All of it, down to the ground, until I felt clean, purified by it. “I understand,” I said. “I really do. And it’s likely I’d have done the same thing if we had to trade places.”
Trill just bobbed her head, though part of me wondered if she heard me. I could only imagine she was doing to herself what her brother had, accusing, beating. What I used to do.
Okay, what I still did. Sometimes. More often than I should.
“Is that why you ran off the second time?” Made sense. I was sure she’d gotten the hint the first time around.
Trill sagged, misery taking over at last. “Yes,” she said, harsh, broken. “At the mansion, he reached me, told me about Nona. Let me feel her.” She shook her head as she suddenly flared with anger all over again. Personally, I liked it better than giving up. “How could I just let her die?”
Probably wouldn’t help to tell her thanks to what she’d done, she’d doomed the whole plane to a horrible ending. I may have been through enough to toughen me up, but even I struggled with the idea of letting someone I loved die in order to save the rest of the world.
Gram again. No crying.
Wait a minute. Gram. “Trill, why could I reach you when all of my other magicks are mute?”
She shrugged, snuffled. “I don’t know.”
Argh. “Yes you do,” I said. “Think.”
Again the lift of her shoulders, the tip of her head. “Because the maji made the sorcerers too,” she said. “Maybe that means our power supersedes theirs.”
You have got to be kidding me. “They did what?” Of all the idiotic, irresponsible, short-sighted—
Trill tossed her hands in the air. “I didn’t do it,” she snapped.
Count to ten.
“Does that mean I might be able to use the maji power to reach my family?” I hadn’t even tried, considered it a waste of time.
Panic surged as she rushed toward me, hands gripping my sweater. “Please,” she said, more tears trickling. “You can’t. They’ll kill her.”
I turned to Owen who hugged his knees to his chest. “Well?”
His jaw tightened and he turned away from his sister. “Do it,” he said.
“Owen!” Trill let me go, face wide open in shock. “You can’t mean it. This is Nona!”
“Who taught us who we are is more important than what we feel.” He didn’t bother to raise his head when he snapped back at her. “Syd, just do it. We can’t let Belaisle have access to Trill.”
Not like I needed their permission, but it was nice to know he and I were on the same page. “I promise we will do everything we can to rescue your grandmother,” I said. “Just, for once, please, can you trust I know what I’m doing?”
Would be a stretch since I was playing it by ear with a bad case of tone deaf. But Trill finally nodded, turning away, neither of the siblings meeting my eyes. Charlotte glared, nodded as I drew a breath and looked inside.
It took a moment to find it, the part of me that was maji. When I’d contacted Trill, tried to warn her, I’d done it on instinct, my usual mode of communication when I wanted to keep information secret. This was more of an exploration and search for power, enough boost to reach past the shielding and someone I knew.
And hopefully who wanted to help. Catching the edge of, say, Ameline’s mind wouldn’t do me much good. In fact, the ice-hearted sociopath would likely cheer the sorcerers on. And anyone in the Dumont family would be a total waste of time.
Okay, so focus. First, a test. I reached for Liam, keeping the feeling of him in my mind, my heart. Nothing. Fair enough. This time, I tried for Meira. Her combination of being my sister and a fellow demon might make the difference. Nothing. I could try Mom, but I was tired of screwing around.
Gram. This was so hard. I had no frame of reference, no way of knowing if what I was doing was simply bouncing back from the shields and hitting me or reaching my target. The feeling of the maji power was so foreign, I was lost for a moment, willing her to hear me, more than using magic.
Flutter.
Gram?
Flash—S—flicker. Syd—spark.
And then, nothing.
I gasped for air, remembering to breathe as I dropped my focus, bending in half, hands on my knees, feeling as if I’d just finished running a marathon.
“Did it work?” Owen didn’t sound like he really wanted to know.
“I think so.” I flexed my hands, feeling the blood rush into them as I relaxed the fists I’d seemed to be holding tight a lot lately. “I don’t know.” I slid my hands into my pockets, felt the smooth surface of the crystal against my hand.
Started to swear. Didn’t stop for quite some time while I stomped my foot in impotent rage. Owen stared at me like I’d lost my mind, Trill the same, though Charlotte’s eyes narrowed as she watched me pull the stone from my pocket.
“I’m an idiot.” I held it up, curses cutting off as I showed it to them. “We might have all the help we need right here.” I really needed to stop getting hit in the head. It had to be doing some permanent damage.
Owen’s eyes lit up as he leaped from the bed and came to me, reaching for the crystal before he smiled a little. “May I?”
I dropped it in his hand. “Knock yourself out. Or better yet, get us out of here.”
He studied it, fingers sliding over the polished surface. “You did it,” he said. “And stone. I can work with stone.” He beamed at me before his face fell a little, but not in sadness again, thank goodness. More in curiosity. “Syd,” he said, “did you say you used one of these before?”
“Sort of,” I said. “To channel power.”
He drew a breath, suddenly tense, lips quivering in excitement. “You’re right, Trill,” he said. “I didn’t think you were, but she has it too.”
Trill joined us, eyes locked on the crystal while I scowled at the pair of them. “I have what?”
Owen ignored me, grinning like none of this had even happened. “This is a power source, yes,” he said. “But it also amplifies the user’s ability.”
I told them quickly about my demon, how Demetrius trapped her in the first crystal. How her power remained though she wasn’t diminished. How I’d used it to send the Wild Hunt back into slumber and how, ultimately, Sassafras used it to save Dad, the transformation of his effigy.
“No wonder the effigy is indestructible,” Trill said, focused again, without the anger. I had to believe this was the real Trill I was finally seeing, the mask of her temper gone. “All that creation magic channeled through the crystal?”
Owen laughed. “Amazing,” he said. “But it wasn’t Sassafras’s power that made it work. It already had hers in it.”
How was anything they were saying not in code? And wait a second. “Hang on,” I said. “Creation magic? Sassy killed himself. He used blood magic.”
Trill wrinkled her nose. “You witches call it that.” She touched one fingertip to the stone before dropping her hand again. “To the maji, using our blood is the purest form of creation, the very source of all energy, of life itself.” She fixed me with her brown eyes. “And if you’re going to be of any use to us at this point, you’re going to have to use it too.”
***
Chapter Twenty Nine
I credited the fact my powers were cut off, since I didn’t feel a surge of nausea at her words. And yes, I’d heard the geas thing before and was fairly cert
ain it was true. That sorcerers forced a witch to use her power to convince every witch thereafter the use of blood—creation—magic was evil and the very worst crime someone could commit.
Still. The idea I’d have to use it… she couldn’t be serious.
Trill must have seen my reluctance. She scrunched her nose at me, glasses twitching, before she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “This is how things are,” she said, her no-nonsense attitude reminding me of Sassafras. “Crash course, pay attention.” Owen shook his head with a little smile. He might have been used to her, but she was pushing her limits with me. If I hadn’t needed the information, we’d be having a serious talk about her abrasive nature.
“The maji created everything,” she said. “From witches to the Sidhe.” I still struggled with the mythos, but let her go on. “From demons,” knew that already, “to yes, even the sorcerers.” Which made the maji some kind of master race. Why did that give me the creeps? “They even created the planes we live on, and the veils to keep those planes apart.” This was all starting to sound even more like religious dogma, but I held my judgment until I could do my own research. And yet, I couldn’t argue the maji did have their hands in a lot of different pies. “Though they were—and are—very powerful, they are, like us, only human. At least, in the sense they aren’t perfect.” Trill paused, let her arms drop. “I’m doing this wrong. Nona tells it better than I do.”
Owen just smiled at her. “Keep going, sis,” he said. “Syd gets the point.”
I nodded for her to continue. “I don’t need the fancy version,” I said. “Facts do me just fine.”
“Okay,” Trill said. “The maji made mistakes on other planes and had to leave ours while they were still working on things. From what Nona told me, they meant to come back, but couldn’t.” More likely didn’t. Or were distracted by something shiny. I was growing more annoyed with the almighty maji by the moment. “They left their half-bloods behind, sons and daughters born of our races, to keep things going. But here on our plane, and I’m sure on others,” Trill pushed her glasses back with one finger, “the blood thinned over the centuries and much of the knowledge of what maji could do was lost.”