Crimson Dahlia (Book #3 of the Svatura Series)

by Abigail Owen

  “That’s our big news,” Charlotte said with a smile. “The little sleeping girl has woken up.”

  Ramsey was shocked. The girl had been unconscious, yet inexplicably still functioning for almost a year now. “When was this?”

  “Just today,” Charlotte said. “Her name is Talia, but she doesn’t remember much else.”

  “What’s odd,” added Dexter, “is that Talia’s symptoms – loss of memory, for example – are all very much like Mom’s. Griffin has been poking around in both of their minds and also sees similarities. We think they may have been affected by the same thing, or person.”

  Ramsey nodded. “Makes sense. And it means that someone with Maddox’s crew has the ability to put people into some kind of hibernation.” He frowned, remembering his odd dream. The fog surrounding Lila was concerning.

  “How have you been doing?” Charlotte’s soft voice interrupted his train of thought.

  “Frustrated, as usual.” Ramsey ran a hand through his hair. “I feel like I’m close. She’s somewhere in this area, but there’s nothing but trees and rocks as far as I can tell. I haven’t found any kind of structure or sign of anyone.”

  “But you can still feel her?” Dexter asked.

  With a nod Ramsey thought about the strange link he felt with Lila. Nebulous and uncertain, the connection wasn’t something he could control. All he could feel was her presence, and sometimes her state of being. For instance, he knew she’d been injured when she was kidnapped. But he also knew that the wound had healed.

  “Anything we can do to help?” Charlotte asked.

  Ramsey shrugged. “What you’re already doing.” He nodded at the bag they’d brought him. “Not having to stop for supplies or lug a ton of them around is huge—”

  “Bit of an emergency going on here,” Griffin’s voice suddenly interrupted. The three heard his voice in their heads as clearly as if he were standing right there, even though he was still at the castle. Charlotte glanced at the two men. “I’ll go check it out.” And she was gone.

  Ramsey frowned. “Huh…Wonder what all that’s ab—?”

  Charlotte popped back in before he finished talking. “You both should be there for this.”

  Without question, Ramsey and Dexter each took her hand. Instantly they were standing inside the Vyusher castle, in a bedroom that Ramsey didn’t recognize. The entire family was already gathered. The family had grown recently, but each was as dear to him as his own family. Hugh and Lucy Jenner, Lila’s parents, were there along with her older sister Adelaide. Adelaide’s te’sorthene, Nate, whom Ramsey thought of as an adopted little brother, sat in the back corner. Charlotte and Dexter Pierce had treated the two boys as their own for the last seventy years or so. Lila’s adoptive brother, Alex Jenner, and his new bride and te’sorthene, Ellie, were missing, still in Brazil trying to track down the tribe Lila’d been trying to negotiate with just before she’d been kidnapped. But Ellie’s twin brother, Griffin Aubrey, and his te’sorthene and the Queen of the Vyusher, Selene, were there. Even Desmond and Oren, two of Selene’s closest friends among the Vyusher, stood off to the side. The only one truly missing was Lila.

  “Someone’s taken Sheila,” Griffin said grimly. Sheila was their tracker. As a Vyusher, she could morph into a wolf. But more importantly, she had the ability to find other people with powers and track them anywhere in the world. She’d been working nearly non-stop the last month trying to find Lila, Marcus, and the other Louisianans, but had been unsuccessful thus far.

  Ramsey sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Shit.”

  “How?” Dexter asked.

  They all turned to the tiny woman with light brown hair standing in front of them. Ramsey recognized Maggie, one of Selene’s Vyusher. The girl was visibly shaken. Des grabbed a desk chair and brought it over for her to sit on. Ramsey caught the look of adoration Maggie directed Des’s way but could tell Des had completely missed it.

  Des knelt down in front of Maggie and gently took her hands. “Are you okay, Maggie?”

  She nodded.

  “Tell us what happened.”

  Maggie took a deep breath. “Sheila and I were in here. You know how she just started college?” She glanced at Selene. “She was inspired by our Queen to experience more than just the Vyusher way of life. I was helping her with a calculus assignment.”

  Maggie looked down and seemed to realize that Des was still holding her hands. With a light blush staining her cheeks, she continued. “There was no warning, no noise, nothing. Sheila didn’t even sense them coming. One minute we were studying, and suddenly a man and a woman were just standing there. Sheila recognized the man, because she called him ‘Jordan’ just before they grabbed her and disappeared.”

  Griffin looked at Selene. “Does the name Jordan ring a bell?”

  Selene nodded grimly. “One of Gideon’s lieutenants.” She looked at Maggie. “What did the woman look like?”

  Maggie thought for a minute. “Similar coloring to me, but taller, super skinny.”

  “Doesn’t sound like anyone we know,” Des murmured. Selene nodded in agreement.

  “I hate to say anything,” Dexter joined in, “But does anyone else think it’s odd that our sleeping guest woke up around the same time as this attack?”

  They all were silent a moment “You’re not suggesting that Talia had anything to do with Sheila’s kidnapping,” Nate said.

  Adelaide raised her eyebrows at his defensive tone. “Well, we don’t really know anything about her.”

  “I’m telling you, she’s not connected with this,” Nate insisted.

  Adelaide reached out to give his hand a squeeze. It took a second, but he squeezed back.

  “We’ll keep an eye on the girl,” Selene said. “And I’ll inform the High Council. We’ll need to think about additional security measures.”

  “I’ll let Ellie and Alex know what’s going on,” Oren said.

  Ramsey glanced around. “Nothing I can do here. I’ll head back to my camp.”

  “How’s it going?” Selene asked him. She looked exhausted. Ramsey imagined being ruler of the Vyusher might do that to anyone.

  “Not well,” he answered grimly.

  “Keep it up. I know you’ll figure it out and find her,” she said.

  “After all, you’re the most stubborn person we know,” Charlotte added with a wink.

  Ramsey smiled. “I don’t know,” he said. “We have some pretty stubborn people in this family. Lila herself…”

  Thinking of Lila again triggered Ramsey’s thoughts about that weird dream. He glanced at Selene. “Can you contact me through your dream control tonight?”

  Selene frowned and nodded. “Of course. Any particular reason?”

  “I just want to check something, and I need your help to do it.” Ramsey had a suspicion, but he wanted to test it out before he got anyone’s hopes up.

  He received a round of hugs before he took Charlotte’s hand. Back at the camp, she gave him another bear hug. “Lucy included some of her brownies for you,” she said.

  “Thanks.” He grinned and then waved as she disappeared.

  Ramsey glanced around his campsite and the woods surrounding him. A sense of loneliness rolled over him. Funny that he’d been such a loner for almost seventy years, but now he was used to being surrounded by family. He pushed the feeling of isolation away. He’d deal with anything if he could find Lila.

  Chapter 7

  Ellie stretched like a lazy cat as sunlight spilled across the room, waking her from her sleep. Or maybe the feel of Alex softly trailing his fingertips over her shoulder and down her back was what had roused her.

  A warm smile graced her lips. “Mmmmmm. What a lovely way to wake up,” she murmured. She gave a little squeak of surprise as Alex moved suddenly. He rolled her beneath him and pinned her hands on either side of her face. Before she could protest, his lips covered hers in a searing kiss. And Ellie just plain forgot what she was going to protest about as she lost herself in
the heat of his mouth.

  Alex pulled back slightly. “Were you going to say something, wife?” he teased.

  Ellie shook her head, her violet blue eyes sparkling. “Can’t think of a darn thing with you doing such distracting things to my body.”

  “Damn straight.” Alex looked stern for a moment and then grinned. Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck, sinking her fingers into his thick, black hair, and pulled him back down to her eager lips.

  “Ah-hem,” a small cough interrupted them. With a groan, Alex lifted up onto his forearms and glanced over his shoulder. There he saw the ghostly figure of Oren. The older man’s eyes were closed, giving them a small amount of privacy.

  “Come back in a few minutes, Oren. We’ll get dressed,” Alex directed.

  Oren nodded and faded away.

  Alex flopped back down on the bed. “When I pictured our honeymoon, it did not include trying to track down my sister in Brazil or being interrupted at very inopportune moments by an astral-projector,” he grumbled.

  Ellie stifled a giggle. She leaned over to kiss his neck, which earned her a look of sheer frustration. “We’ll take a real honeymoon when this is all over. Promise.”

  Ellie and Alex had only been married a short while. They’d met a few years before when Ellie and Griffin had found Alex’s family and helped protect them from the Vyusher, who, at that time, were dangerous enemies. At first Alex had thought that Ellie was just a normal teenage girl who’d befriended his adopted sisters, Lila and Adelaide. He’d been shocked to realize she was also gifted, but he’d gotten over it quickly when he realized she was also his te’sorthene.

  Alex gave his new bride a stern look, softened by the tenderness in his silver-blue eyes. “I’ll hold you to that, Mrs. Jenner.”

  Five minutes later, dressed and ready, Alex and Ellie sat on the foot of the bed and listened to Oren.

  “I can’t believe they got into the castle undetected. How’s that possible?” Ellie asked, as she absorbed the news of Sheila’s capture.

  “We’re working on that,” Oren said.

  Ellie and Alex looked at each other. “Oren, we’ve tracked down the Brazilian tribe Lila and Marcus tried to meet before they were captured. The Timening – that’s what they call themselves - have been a bit…um, resistant… but have at least talked to us. However, the only reason they did was because they’ve had a few disappearances themselves, starting shortly after Lila went missing.”

  Oren silently considered the implications of this news. “I’ll inform Selene at once.”

  Ellie nodded. “They rejected any sort of alliance when Lila was here. But now that they haven’t been able to stop these kidnappings, they’re more open to negotiations.”

  “Speaking of which, what precautions is Selene taking?” Alex asked.

  “She’s considering having Griffin put his shield up around the entire castle. But they think that it might be too much of a drain on him to hold it constant. And it’s possible that abilities like Charlotte’s could bypass him anyway.”

  Alex and Ellie nodded. One of Griffin’s powers was the ability to construct an invisible physical shield that he could stretch over any size.

  “Is Selene going to have Xavier move the castle again?” Ellie asked. They’d moved the location of the castle after Lila’s disappearance, though they’d stayed in Canada.

  “We’ve tried that, and they found us anyway.”

  “Should we come back?”

  Oren shook his head. “Finding Lila might be the key to stopping Maddox or at least slowing him down. Any leads there?”

  Ellie stood and paced the small hotel room. “We’ve determined that Lila was captured just after trying to meet with the Timening. I think they were on their way home but still in this area. Doesn’t really tell us much, but we’ll keep looking. Tell Selene that we’ll send a faction from this tribe to meet with her soon.”

  “I’ll pass that on. Also, there’s one other bit of news that you should be aware of,” Oren said.

  “Better news than your first piece, I hope,” Alex mumbled. He grunted as Ellie bumped him with her elbow.

  “Our sleeping guest has awoken. Her name is Talia,” Oren said, ignoring the couple’s byplay.

  Ellie’s eyebrows shot up. “Holy smokes, really? How is she?”

  “Doesn’t remember much. Griffin’s working with her much like he does with Dexter’s mother, Mary.”

  Ellie nodded. “Well, tell her welcome to the tribe for us. I’ll be curious to meet her. Hopefully soon.”

  Oren gave a formal little half bow of acknowledgement.

  “How’s Lucy doing?” Ellie always asked this same question, and Oren always answered the same way.

  “She’s holding up. Keeps herself busy putting care packages together for you two and for Ramsey. Charlotte will be by with your next one tomorrow.”

  He paused a moment and seemed to be listening to something else, likely something on his side. “I must go now.”

  “All right, then. See you in a few days. Love to the family.”

  *****

  Lila felt as if she’d been wandering through the grey mist for ages. She had yet to encounter anything. Not a tree, not a rock, not a building. Definitely not another person. Maybe she was moving in circles? Because there was no way she could walk as long as she had been and not come across something. Lila stopped. It was clearly a useless exercise. She put her hands on her hips and turned in a full circle, searching for well, anything, through the fog. Nothing.

  Where the hell am I?

  Lila glanced down and noticed that while she could see her feet, she couldn’t make out the ground on which she was standing. She bent over and tried to get a better look, but to no avail—the fog was too thick. Lila got down on her knees and lowered her face until she was within millimeters of the ground. Nothing. Sitting back up, Lila held her hands straight out in front of her. She could see them just fine. So it wasn’t that the mist was so thick that it obscured the ground from her view.

  Lila sucked in a breath as her hands dropped to her lap. Either I’m dead, or I’m crazy… ‘cause this is not a dream.

  Just in case, she gave her arm a pinch. No pain. So maybe she was dreaming. But it sure didn’t feel like one. She closed her eyes, tipped her head back, and reopened her eyes to look heavenward. Only there was nothing to look at except fog.

  For now, I’ll assume I’m not dead. Crazy is still on the table. But on the off chance I’m not, what else could this be?

  She tried to remember how she got here. But the more she tried to remember something, anything, the more she couldn’t. She couldn’t recall where she’d been, or who she’d been with, or…

  I don’t know who I am.

  The realization should have brought feelings of alarm. Instead, Lila merely shrugged her shoulders apathetically. She lay down on her back to get more comfortable and just let her mind wander. She raised her hand to push the mist around in lazy circles, watching the swirling patterns that rippled through the dense grey haze.

  After a while, she began to hum a little tune, not anything specific, just random little notes strung together to form some unknown melody. The sounds seemed to drift around her as if they clung to the fog. Lila almost giggled at the thought but was too listless to bother to giggle.

  Someone will come along to find me eventually, right?Although, does it really matter?

  Lila gave a mental shrug. She was perfectly content right where she was. She was warm and comfy. But… wasn’t there something odd about that thought? Warm and comfy didn’t really seem to go along with lying around in the mist.

  Another mental shrug.

  I’ll just relax here for a little bit. Then I’ll go… somewhere. Although… why would I want to leave here anyway? Where I am right now is just fine.

  On that uncaring thought, Lila shut her eyes and allowed her mind to tune out and drift.

  Chapter 8

  Several mornings after Sheila’s kidnapping, Ra
msey was still searching. He packed up his camp and headed out. Over the last few days, he’d made his way higher into the mountains, so his trek was a little slower as he hiked his way up a steeper incline. The sounds of the forest surrounded him, and pine needles crunched under his feet as he walked. At least he had a little cloud cover today. The last few days had been still and hot with a brutal sun blazing in the sky.

  Ramsey followed his link with Lila. But, as had been happening for weeks, he felt as though he were walking in circles. He had the constant feeling that he was close. Sometimes he could swear that if he just looked around the next tree, he’d find her standing there. But he had spent more than a month of searching, and no luck.

  Ramsey stopped beside a gurgling spring and dropped his pack to the ground. He pulled out various items, filled his canteen, and treated the water to be drinkable. Then he pulled out some of the food Charlotte had brought him that morning for his lunch. He sat on a rock and listened to the soothing sounds of the trickling stream as he ate his turkey sandwich.

  Lila, where are you?

  His connection with her felt so real, so strong, that he almost expected to hear her voice answering him. Ramsey shook his head. He quickly finished eating, neatly packed everything back in his pack, and hefted it onto his strong shoulders.

  He’d taken a few steps, and then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He stood there for a few moments. Something was wrong. He could feel it. But he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

  His head snapped up as he realized what was missing. Thinking about their connection had clued him in.

  “No,” he whispered.

  He stood still and waited. At one point he almost moved, but then he stopped himself.

  “No, no, no,” he muttered, as a sense of panic set in.

  The word continued to echo in his mind long after he stopped saying it aloud. No, no, no, no… I can’t feel her.

  “Lila,” he whispered, his voice breaking.

  Whatever connection he’d been able to feel with her was now gone. It hadn’t been sudden or obvious. He hadn’t felt any pain with the departure of that link. It was as though it had just quietly faded away.