Rise of the Discordant: The Complete Five Book Series

by Christina McMullen

  We spoke up at the same time, causing a small chuckle.

  “Please,” I said, indicating she should go first.

  “I just wanted to explain,” she said, looking down at the worn wooden tabletop and tracing the grain absently. “It was right after Donna broke the curse that Taffy’s downfall began. Within a year, she’d lost the house, her car, nearly all of her savings. Were it not for social security coming from so many husbands, she probably wouldn’t have had the trailer either. I just… I can’t believe I didn’t see it. I feel so… I don’t know. Guilty isn’t quite the right word. Responsible, definitely, but something else.”

  At last, I understood what it was that Myrna was saying.

  “Myrna, did you ask Taffy to use her abilities to create a puppet?”

  “I asked for her help.”

  “But did you specifically ask her to create a puppet by removing someone’s soul for the purpose of breaking your daughter’s curse?”

  “No,” she said with a sigh. “Desmond, I know what you’re trying to do and I appreciate it, but you have to understand. Even though her actions were her own, Taffy did what she did to help me, but she had to live with that on her conscience. No wonder she took to drinking.”

  “I’m not entirely sure about that,” I said cautiously. “Myrna, just before her death, Taffy was trying to get rid of something. A letter, or letters, that I’m guessing she didn’t want you to find.”

  “Is that what the mess in the sink was?”

  “It... was…” I drawled, debating my next action. At last, I drew the seal out of my pocket. Myrna deserved to know everything, even if it wasn’t much. “I found nothing of the letters, but there was this.” I set the jar with the seal in it on the table. Myrna picked it up and peered closer, frowning at first, but she looked up at me with wide eyes when she realized what she had.

  “Why, that’s his seal, isn’t it?”

  “Arkady confirmed that it is indeed the seal of the House of Fa Be’yoh.”

  She sipped silently at her tea for a moment, a frown of concentration on her brow.

  “Of course, she could have simply been trying to steal yet another man from me,” she said with a derisive snort before setting down her glass and giving me a pointed look. “Regardless of the reason, and whether it’s significant or not, I think Donna has the right to know…. Everything.”

  I was inclined to agree, but I could not in good conscience dismiss the seal or the fact that Taffy had been deliberately trying to hide the letters, most likely from Myrna.

  “I understand that you probably don’t want to think about this right now, but if you can think of any reason why she might have been in contact with Donna’s sire, it would help us tremendously. I do not want to have to attempt communication with the incubi while Blackbird is so unstable.”

  “Honestly, Desmond,” she said, taking another sip of tea. “I can’t think of anything. She was certainly no virgin and I can’t for the life of me think of how she might have profited from any arrangement with a morphael Discordant.”

  “I suppose I’ll have to go back and sift a little more. That is, if the police aren’t still there investigating.”

  “They shouldn’t be,” she said before narrowing her eyes in thought. “Wait. She burned the letters and then put the fire out with water?”

  “It appears so.”

  “We might just find out what they were discussing after all,” she said, getting up and going out the back door. I followed her through the small back yard, littered with current pottery and art projects, to the edge of the forest, where Myrna surprised me by getting down on her hands and knees, muttering as she dug her fingers into the muddy ground. A moment later, I felt a slight shift in energy and she held out a clump of dirt to me.

  “And now we just need wind,” she muttered, heading back into the house, but not before dumping the dirt into my palm. I reached into my pocket with my free hand for a jar to hold the dirt. From the energy signature coming off of it, it was clear that Myrna had done something, although what, I wasn’t sure. I was even less sure of her sanity a moment later when she came back outside, brandishing a portable hair dryer in her muddy hands.

  “I admit, you have stumped me,” I said, taking the hair dryer gingerly.

  “Earth,” she said nodding toward the jar of dirt. “Wind,” she added, emphasizing the hair dryer. “Fire and water have already been taken care of.”

  “Elements, yes, I got that part,” I said. “But I do not understand what you are suggesting.”

  “Oh Desmond,” she huffed and shook her head at me. “Earth, wind, fire, and water are the elements of the substantial world. They are tangible and the incubi are not. By imbuing the ashes with each element, you should be able to reverse the damage and protect against any insubstantial Discordant protections. Sprinkle the earth over the ashes and dry it with the hair dryer. Gently though,” she added. “Otherwise the pieces will scatter and we’ll never get it back.”

  Admittedly, I was skeptical, but a quick consultation with Arkady confirmed that Myrna had not yet lost her faculties.

  “Worth a shot,” I said with a shrug and exited the Cycle. When I returned moments later to the trailer, I stayed just outside until I was certain that I was indeed alone. A sudden and insistent hissing made me realize that I wasn’t.

  We had missed a cat.

  Satisfied that there were no humans about, I entered the Cycle and eyed the slender gray and tan speckled creature warily before continuing on to my assignment. From the looks of the mess in the sink, no one had been back to fuss with anything. At least not in the kitchen.

  I sprinkled the dirt over the ashes and plugged in the hair dryer, saying a quick shielding spell to ensure that the small device didn’t short out the trailer’s electrical. Surprisingly, as the pieces of ash dried, the gray and blackish color lightened to the soft cream and gold of the unnecessarily ornate paper used by the incubi. Even more surprising, they began to separate out into distinct piles. I held the dryer on them for a few minutes more, but apparently that was the best the spell could do. Four piles remained unmoving despite the air being blown in their direction. Taffy must have torn them before setting them on fire.

  I found a box of sandwich bags in one of the cupboards and placed each pile into its own bag. I stowed everything in my pocket and was about to return to Myrna’s when I heard a soft mewling cry. The cat. Of course. I knew that I could not leave the creature alone to waste away from neglect, but taking it out of the Cycle was just asking for trouble.

  “Any chance you’ve got a cat carrier over there?” I asked Arkady. A second later, my hand closed around something small, puffy, and definitely not big enough to hold a cat.

  Catnip. Like most everything that came from Laboratory Q, I read the attached instructions instead of assuming this was ordinary catnip.

  Use Sparingly.

  Of. Course.

  Already the small feline was trying to climb my pant leg to get to the bag of kitty dope. As soon as she was good and high, I slipped out of the Cycle and returned to Myrna’s place.

  “Oh dear,” she said as soon as she saw the sleeping creature in my arms. “I knew there had to have been more than four of them. I suppose I’ll have to go back and check again. I’m going to have to go back to clean it out anyway. I already know she named me next of kin.” I could have sworn I heard her add under her breath, “Had to get the last laugh, didn’t she?”

  “Anyway,” she continued after making sure the cat, who was still pretty groggy, was comfortably curled up with the others. “Were you successful in your endeavor?”

  “Mostly,” I said and pulled out the bags of paper. “It appears she tore them up. The spell separated them into neat piles, but could not put Humpty Dumpty together again.”

  She raised her eyebrows at my attempted humor and took the bag, eyeing each one in turn. “Well, I always enjoyed putting together puzzles,” she said with a grimace that belied her words. “T
his will likely take some time. I don’t suppose you’d like to stay and help?”

  “If I could, I would,” I said with a glance at the setting sun. “But it is nearly time to begin the nightly hunt. Do not stay up too late puzzling over this. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to help.”

  “Puzzling over this? Cute,” she said, laughing.

  “So my jokes are only funny when they are unintentional?”

  “It’s an endearing trait, trust me,” she said with a wink.

  * * *

  Just traveling from Myrna’s back to our home, I sensed enough Discordant presence that I knew it was going to be a long night. That there was another quake just moments before I left didn’t help. By the time I’d checked on the barrier, followed the scent of three wolf packs, and sent a group of vampires packing, Seth had already come home from work and left again. I wasn’t deliberately trying to avoid him, but I knew how it looked when I didn’t make an appearance at the bar until it became too busy for casual conversation.

  Unfortunately, this also meant I did not have a chance to speak to Donna either. After all that Myrna disclosed to me, I had reason to worry. It was certainly not my place to tell her, but I did feel as if I was somehow responsible for her well-being, considering what I knew. And it was clear that something was eating her. A couple of times I noticed Bogie trying to break through whatever barricade she had erected to no avail. I didn’t kid myself into thinking that I could do any better, so I gave her the space she obviously wanted.

  It was not until the following evening that I saw Seth again. Myrna had sent a rather cryptic message claiming that she’d pieced together the letters, but that she planned to speak to her daughter before revealing their intent. I would have preferred taking a look at them before involving Donna, but I understood Myrna’s reasons. After all, I imagined it would not be easy for Donna to hear the truth about her curse. Still, until I knew what was in those letters, I was going to be just as on edge.

  I decided the most productive use of my time would be to work on weapons. I had not given up hope on keeping the barrier closed, but I was realistic enough to realize that my time was better spent preparing for that which we could only put off and not stop. In addition to the hundreds of wolves that I saw in Donna’s vision, I wanted to be prepared for anything, even Discordant that were not native to the area. I wasn’t going to take any chances.

  I’d been so engrossed in my work that I hadn’t realized how much time had passed until I heard the back door open and shut. I figured that the Guardians had come home from school. When the door above me opened, I expected that Nai was coming down to see what I was working on. Despite the fact that she’d reluctantly accepted the role as Guardian, Nai was still just a bit too interested in the work of the Warrior. Though thinking about it, maybe training both her and her brother with some basic weapons may not be a bad idea.

  What I did not expect to see was Seth hovering on the landing, gripping the railing as if it was the only thing keeping him from bolting back up the stairs.

  “Hello Seth,” I said after what seemed like an excruciatingly awkward pause.

  “Hey,” he said with no small amount of nervous hesitation. “Can I…um… that is, can we talk for a moment?”

  That he had to ask got to me and I decided it was time to stop dancing around the issue.

  “Certainly, if you want to talk about the new renovations.”

  “Renovations?” My comment clearly threw him. “But we just updated everything a few weeks ago.”

  “Yes, but I’ve been thinking we might as well rip out the hardwood and replace all of the flooring with eggshells.”

  He flinched and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. I almost felt bad for the show of attitude, but I’d had enough of this dance. After all, it had been several days since we’d said more than a couple of words to each other. Admittedly, this was my fault, but with the situation becoming more desperate by the day, communication was going to become key.

  Finally, with a long sigh, he sat down.

  “I guess I deserve that.” He looked up with a wry smile. “I’m um… apparently insecure and a little too macho for my own good.”

  I raised my eyebrows. That was certainly not what I expected to hear.

  “It’s kind of funny,” he went on with a short laugh. “Well, maybe not funny, but interesting, I mean… given the difference between us…”

  I had no idea where he was going, but I held my tongue and waited for him to sort out his thoughts.

  “I mean, you’re huge. You’re a Warrior. You’re the…um… I guess the term is alpha male.”

  I winced at the use of the wolf terminology.

  “Yes, I am a large man and I am a Warrior, but I’m not a werewolf, Seth,” I corrected, still confused as to his meaning.

  “Sorry,” he said with a small chuckle. “You can blame Nai for introducing me to a different definition of that term, but that’s neither here nor there. What I’m trying to say is that you are by all definitions of the word, a man. I, on the other hand, well, I’m not as much a masculine ideal and I… well to be honest, you intimidate me…”

  “But that’s preposterous,” I said with a little too much bluster. “I mean, you and I both know that souls are fl-”

  “Yeah,” he cut me off with a nod. “I never said it was well thought out or rational. And well, both Myrna and Bogie pointed out that I’ve been acting like an ass for the last month, so when you dropped the bomb on me, I… God, this is so stupid,” he said with a puff of exasperation. “I… all I could think about was the fact that I was a woman.”

  His admission threw me, but I could not fault him for his actions. Sheepishly, I had to admit that if the roles were reversed, I’d likely have the same response. As it was, I was well aware that my own gruff persona was more of an act than I’d ever fully admit. Although, given the situation, perhaps it was in everyone’s best interest if we both dropped our acts.

  “Seth.”

  Even though I’d said his name quietly, he jumped.

  “You, that is, Sarah,” I fumbled. Saying out loud what I’d long since reconciled in my mind was a lot tougher than I’d expected. “Sarah always said that my size, my physical strength, was wasted on me.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “She, that is, you…” Lord, was that ever confusing. “…were poking fun at me, but there’s a lot of truth in the jest. Imposing I may be, but I was never the strong one. That was you. Always you and… Seth… you’re still…”

  I felt an unfamiliar heat rising and turned away. This was more difficult than I’d expected. Granted, after three hundred years of keeping my emotions locked away in some long forgotten part of my being, I should not have expected anything to be easy.

  “I um…” He cleared his throat and turned away just as I turned back. “I had Nai soul gaze me.”

  “Oh?”

  Well now, that, I had not expected. Or thought of, for that matter. After she’d done it of her own accord, and I impressed upon her the importance of keeping what she found to herself, I never thought to ask if she saw anything beyond the last Cycle.

  “It seems I uh… That is, you seem to get into tr-”

  Seth’s words were drowned out as the cellar door opened again and a herd of elephants that looked suspiciously like Donna stomped down the stairs.

  “Oh good, you’re both hee…uh… hey ho! Um…am I interrupting something?”

  “What? No, you’re…we’re…” Seth stammered.

  “Is everything okay, Donna?" I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral. Of all the moments to interrupt, she had to choose this one.

  “Oh yeah,” she said, blinking at the abrupt shift. “I need your help. Both of you,” she said, turning to me as well. “We’re going to summon my dad.”

  Chapter 10

  The Parent Trap

  By the time Betty and Louise got home from work, mom and I had made a list of all of the ingredients and items we woul
d need to perform the summons. To call it complicated was an understatement.

  Even though we had a perfectly good glade behind the house, it was still within the residential boundaries of town, so we gathered up everything we already had and brought it over to mom’s. We had no idea what to expect and with a spell this complicated, it wasn’t likely that we’d be able to shield as well. The woods behind mom’s place were far enough from civilization that we didn’t have to worry about attracting attention.

  I’d expected mom to bust out her usual iced tea, but she shocked me by instead going to the cabinet over the sink and pulling down a bottle of wine. She shook her head at my raised eyebrows and rummaged around the junk drawer for a corkscrew.

  “We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” I reminded her.

  “Which is why I am going to need something stronger than tea, but weaker than the straight vodka I daresay I’d rather have right now,” she noted as she poured four glasses. “Let me see the list again.”

  I handed it over and she skimmed past the first items that we’d already accumulated, frowning when she reached the one seemingly impossible item. The one thing we would need before we could go forward with the plan. Calling dad over would not actually be terribly difficult once all of the pieces were in place. Keeping him here was another. We needed a proper vessel. Unfortunately, because morphaels did not possess people, the usual vessels were useless. We needed something that would draw his attention.

  “So, let me get this straight,” Louise said, trying to understand what it was that we were looking for. “It needs to be attractive and human shaped? So like a statue?”

  “A statue would be best, but you’ll want something you can control. Metal is out,” mom explained.

  “There’s the statue of that guy in the park,” Betty suggested. “It’s made of stone, so it should work.”

  “Stone is too hard to control,” I reminded her and tried to figure out what statue she was talking about. After a moment, I broke out into a fit of laughter. “Wait, are you talking about the statue of Mark Twain?”