“It’s where a Sister has been born. I get to go give the mother the bad news. Katrina would run up and find them. I’ve never done this before.”
He touched my cheek. “Maybe best to start by not thinking of it as bad news. You have an amazing gift. You guys are going to save the whole world. Her daughter chose this life, came down, chose her, and better yet, you aren’t going to take her from them. So, chin up, Mika. All will be well.”
Neil looked so sincere I had to squeeze his hand. “Since when are you glass half full?”
“Since I got you. Anything is possible.”
I hoped he was right. I walked slowly toward the woman. I wasn’t sure exactly how this would work. I’d never spoken to one of these women before. She jolted to her feet, holding her baby close. “Who are you?”
I cleared my throat. “You can see me?” That was helpful.
“Like a ghost. Are you a ghost?”
Well, that was interesting. “No, I’m not a ghost. I’m a Sister. Do you know what that is?”
She gripped the baby tighter, her knuckles turning white. “You can’t take her. I won’t give her to you. I don’t need anything from the Sisterhood. I’ll die sooner.”
I believed her. My heart clenched for my own mother. “I would never take your baby. Not ever.”
She shook her head and backed up. “I know what happens.”
“Not anymore. That’s not how things are going to go. But I need you to listen to me. Your daughter, if you don’t get her to us, if you choose not to come to the Sisterhood, will be okay until she is twelve years old. Then her powers will turn on. Every demon anywhere nearby and some far away will be drawn to her. She may not be able to control or use her powers. It could get her killed and the rest of you as well.”
I saw when my words penetrated through her fear. A different kind of concern overtook her features. I wasn’t what was scary to her anymore; what I told her was much more intimidating. She kissed her daughter’s cheeks. Once, then twice.
“Take the trains to the westernmost part of the Badlands. The stop is called Otoro.” I’d been on the trains many times now and couldn’t remember the trips at all. “The locals can tell you where the Sisterhood is. We’ll be waiting for you. If you decide now, if you decide later. You’ll always be welcome.”
Since I was basically inviting this woman and any future people to Anne’s Sisterhood, I probably needed to let Anne know I was doing so. That would mean hustling it home starting tomorrow. I pulled myself back. I’d delivered the message. I couldn’t or wouldn’t ever tell anyone what to do with their families. It was up to this woman and her family to decide what to do.
I hoped they made the right choices.
I was flung back into my body at the same time Neil was thrust into his. The room spun then righted itself. Neil grabbed his head. “Wow. That hurts.”
“It does.” But all in all I preferred the sensation to the dark cursed road. I sat. “Thanks. Glad that is over.”
Wayne slapped Neil on the back. “You went with her?”
“Guess she wanted a little bit of company.” He grinned.
I got off the bed. With that taken care, my energy had returned. “The tree told me some things today. How and why the demons took over. What it has seen. It won’t be able to sustain this island much longer. The demons are going to come.”
I watched as they each digested this information with different degrees of horror on their face. Ren looked the least surprised, but then again, this place had never been the haven for him it was for the rest.
Gordon backed up. “We have to warn people.”
“We do.” Wayne nodded. “But not frantically. We need to have a plan and suggestions.”
“There isn’t any fighting them unless you’re a Sister,” Lennon added. “Maybe it’s better not to tell them. If they can’t do anything about it. Why frighten them ahead of time?”
“All of these people”—Neil rubbed his eyes—“waiting to be slaughtered and possessed. With no one to help them.”
The room was quiet for a moment until Ren spoke. “I think Mika probably has some good thoughts on this she is keeping to herself out of some misbegotten idea she can’t comment since these are our friends and family and not hers.” He took my hand. “Am I right?”
He wasn’t wrong. I might not have put it exactly that way. But I wasn’t going to intrude on their life here. I did have family here, too. Even if I was having a hard time wrapping my head around that.
“Well,” I breathed out, “as much as it is going to cause panic, they have some time to make decisions. I have no doubt in my mind that this place will be overrun as soon as the tree’s shielding is down. The tree has…” I was guessing, really, but based on what it showed me in terms of its power, I could make some reasonable assessments. “A year.” It could be longer. Better to err on the side of less time. “They can decide if they want to leave or if they want to stay. None of them will be able to fight them, but there are places in the world that seem to manage better. Some of the spots on the edge of the Badlands remain relatively demon free thanks to their relationship with Katrina’s Sisterhood. I’m not saying that’s a great thing. Maybe if they moved close to where we live, we could help them.”
For that matter, if people really started to come to live near us, it was seriously going to build up the area. That was a thought for another time.
“They can make choices,” I finished.
Neil rubbed his chin. “Town hall.”
The house was quiet. I’d opted out of going with them to the Town Hall, which had meant I’d stayed behind with Ren and the girls. Daniella’s daughters were upstairs packing to return. It was amazing to me that they’d actually put their stuff away. I hadn’t so much as opened a bag since I’d been here.
Lennon came down the stairs, taking them two at a time. “I bailed. My father and some of the others like him starting proclaiming things, and I had to get away.”
I was reading, and Ren had his head in my lap. His eyes were closed, but I didn’t think he was really sleeping so much as kind of just being quiet for a few minutes. I shut the book. “Welcome back.”
He plopped down next to me. “Thanks.”
Ren opened his lids. “So it’s just as bad as I thought it was going to be.”
Lennon yawned. “Worse. Because everyone who is not like my parents is actually terrified. Hard to calm people down. Hard to get them to believe it’s going to be okay when it’s not.”
I rubbed Lennon’s leg. “I’m so sorry.”
“We’re lucky you came here and spoke with that tree or we’d never have known this was going to happen.”
I kissed Lennon’s cheek and kept my left hand in Ren’s hair, stroking it. This was such a sweet, quiet moment. “You don’t think perhaps ignorance might be bliss?”
“Nope.” Ren sat up slowly, leaning against the bedframe. His eyes were hooded. “I think we need to get out of here tonight.”
“What?” His words were so startling that I almost didn’t believe them. “Why do you say that?”
“No one knows the people of this place as well as I do. I mean, that’s not exactly fair. People know their families. Lennon knows his parents better than I do.”
Lennon groaned. “Unfortunately.”
Ren continued. “They don’t know what this place is like when you don’t fit in. Or when you aren’t part of any group considered acceptable. My life on the other side of this island was horrendous but maybe worse when my parents died and I was that kid no one wanted to admit had been left to starve. So they shunned me, mistreated me, and might have preferred it if I’d died. Most people, anyway. Javier wasn’t like that, obviously. We need to run. They will come for Mika and blame her for this, as though her coming here is what caused it.”
I waited for Lennon to argue with him, and when he didn’t, my heart rate kicked up. I rose, trying to act calm even if I didn’t feel that way. “Is this a real possibility?”
/> Lennon ran a hand through his hair. “I wish it wasn’t, but it is. He’s right. We need to go now while they’re still in the meeting.”
“What about the others?”
Ren pointed upward. “I’ll get the girls.”
Lennon took me in his arms. “Cut them off. Neil. Wayne. Gordon. They’ll understand it once they figure it out. I don’t want them to know where we are. Once we’re off the island, put them back on. We’ll wait for them. It sucks, but they’d agree that your safety comes first. They’ll come charging here as soon as the first cry for your head is made. For now, they’ll probably think you’re having sex. When we’re all gone, they’ll be logical about it, after Gordon stops ranting. They’ll leave the island. We’re not going far.” He held out his hand. “I know this is sudden, but you know I don’t overreact.”
He didn’t. He watched everything and noticed everyone. He understood us better than we did ourselves, and it seemed that Ren could be counted on to know the worst in people and see what they would do before they did it.
I let Lennon lead me from Javier’s home, running for our lives in the middle of the night. And as we rounded the corner down the street, I cut off my link to three parts of my heart. I really hoped Lennon was right and it was better they not be able to find me, better they not be able to lead anyone to me. This was different than briefly linking to just one of them instead of all five, this was like losing three parts of my very essence. I hated every second of it.
The boat ride was awful. The further I went from Neil, Wayne, and Gordon the worse the pain of keeping them out of my head became. Lennon rubbed my back. We were on the last ferry off the island. It would be the next day by the time we landed. The wee hours of the morning, as Ren called it.
They didn’t want me to reconnect until I was officially on dry land, lest any fishing boats come after us. Better everyone search the island for me. They’d never think I’d leave my other three. My head pounded, and I cried out. I needed them.
Without them, the world suddenly seemed like too much. I’d had years of alone, and I knew the difference now.
Ren sat next to me, Daniella’s daughters on the other side of him bundled in coats. They looked warm, and I was glad they weren’t uncomfortable. I was freezing. We hadn’t grabbed any of my stuff when we’d taken off out the door.
“I swear,” Ren’s voice was low. “They aren’t going to be angry. They’re going to get it.”
“It’s not that.” I wasn’t afraid of their temper. “You didn’t just join to me. I joined to you. I miss them. Like a huge hole in my soul.”
Lennon scooted even closer to me. “We love you. This will be over soon.”
I hoped he was right. We’d had no choice but to do this. If there was even the possibility they’d have to kill their friends and neighbors or loved ones to save me, I’d never have been able to live with it.
23
Lennon shut the door to the inn we were staying in and raised his eyebrows. “Go ahead and link back to them.”
I was dizzy from holding off doing so. I took a breath and pushed open the block I had forced into my mind to keep them away. My other three rushed back in. It was such a relief. I collapsed right into Ren’s arms. I was glad he’d had the thought to be right there in case I lost it.
Lennon had been right. They weren’t angry, not at all. Worried, yes. Mad, no. Love flooded through the links so fast I closed my eyes to receive it. Ren set me down on the bed, coming next to me to hold me against him. Lennon walked over and kissed me, gently. “I’m going to go sleep on the floor outside the girls’ room. This is a new place. I won’t put them at risk.”
I may have thanked him. The door closed quietly, and all I did was breathe. They weren’t physically with me yet, but they were fine.
That was all that mattered.
Ren snuggled close against me. “I’m sorry I had to be the one to say the people on the island were going to come after you. I wouldn’t have let them get to you. They would have all died.”
I patted his arm. When the other three got to us, I’d hear what happened. “I’m glad you saw it before it happened.”
He closed his eyes. “You’re exhausted. You don’t know it, but it’s traveling through our link.”
“I don’t even notice anymore.” There was a clock in the room that ticked. Tick. Tick. Tick. Why did people put ticking clocks places where someone might want to sleep? That noise. It was going to drive me crazy. Tick. Tick. Tick.
I yanked out of Ren’s arms and covered my ears. “Why does it have to be so loud and all consuming?”
“Mika?” Ren got on his knees. “Something’s wrong.”
“What gave that away?” I pointed at the clock. “It’s ticking, and it’s making me crazy.”
He shook his head. “I’ll put the clock in the hall, but that’s not it. Look at me. Something is wrong.”
I tried to listen to Ren through the pounding in my head. He was right. This wasn’t normal. The way I was feeling wasn’t in any way appropriate to the small aggravation that was a ticking clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. By divinity, I wanted to break something.
Lennon opened the door slightly. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure.” Ren stayed very still, his eyes on me.
My vision clouded. One second I was in the room, and the next on that cursed black road. I cried out and was wrenched back into my body. No, this couldn’t happen again. Katrina was trying to get back in my head. The anger in this room wasn’t mine.
“It’s Katrina.”
Ren knee-walked over to me on the other side of the bed. “She can’t have you.”
“Well that’s good and fine to say, but I can feel her presence, like a bitter taste in my mouth all of a sudden, and she almost pulled me in.”
He extended his hand, and I put mine in it. If I was going to be lost to the curse again, then I wanted the last thing I felt to be the way they all loved me. “Get Devyn. She can blind me.”
Ren shook his head. “No.”
“Got this?” Lennon called from the doorway, and Ren nodded. Why was he saying yes? He didn’t have anything.
The door clicked quietly closed again, and Ren dropped my hand just to touch both sides of my face. “You’re vulnerable to her right now for three reasons. The first is we just left the island where she couldn’t get to you at all. So now she’s trying. The second is you’re frightened, and the third is you’re tired. But guess what? She can’t get in. She tried, and she was pushed out.”
I listened to his voice. It was very soothing. “Because Clara is with us.”
He shook his head. “You know all the reading I’ve been doing? Or maybe you don’t know because I did most of it on top of the carriage when you were inside. I read and read and read. Nothing magical can happen to you now. Nothing. Once we were all co-joined, you were protected. We take up all the space inside of you now. That thing that was happening with the blindness? How you were seeing light a little? That was as you co-joined. We were pushing out that magic. You would have seen again whether you wanted to or not.”
But I knew that wasn’t true. “Anne has been possessed since she was co-joined. Teagan had Katrina in her mind.”
“That’s a different thing. That’s not magic. That’s demon. Teagan had Katrina in her mind because she came through the demon. Nothing magic. She tried the curse, and it didn’t work. She can’t see through your eyes anymore. You’re safe.”
I was safe. I threw that phrase around in my mind a few times until it settled down on me. I was safe. He was right. She had pushed her energy at me, tried to get in my mind, and yet here I was, perfectly okay.
“I don’t have to ever go down that road again.”
He put his head on my shoulder, rubbing his forehead against the skin on my neck. “When you know, when you truly see how loved you are, none of her dark magic can touch you. Not ever. It floated on by.”
I held onto Ren. He didn’t try to move, just kept his
head where it was on my shoulder. He was right. I was exhausted. His arms came around my waist, and he pulled me to him on the bed. We lay down, facing each other on the pillow.
“Tomorrow we’ll be all together. We have nowhere to be. Nothing to do. Not at the moment anyway.” Ren pulled the covers over us. He kissed me, once, then twice. “Sleep. I’m here, and you’re safe. It would be better for you if you had two of us with you in bed, but it’s more important to guard the girls. I’ll watch over you. I promise.”
I must have fallen asleep. I didn’t remember doing so, but soon a hand on my thigh had me opening my eyes. Neil’s gaze met mine. He was there. I grabbed him, and he laughed, and then I clutched onto Gordon and Wayne, too.
“Heya, sleepyhead.” Neil kissed my lips. “It’s almost lunchtime.”
It was? I sat up. My body was stiff. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept so long. Ren lay next to me on the bed. He had a book in his hand. He’d obviously not been sleeping the whole time. Was Lennon still with the girls?
I’d figure it all out soon. “Did a mob come for me?”
Wayne shrugged. “Small mob. I was glad you weren’t there. Gordon was still trying to talk them down. We were figuring how to get you out of the house but that proved unnecessary.” He nodded to Ren. “Good work.”
“Thanks.” Ren got off the bed and headed for the door. “I’m going to relieve Lennon. He’s going to be sick of sitting on the floor. I had her in the bed all night. I got the better end of the deal.” He leaned over and kissed my temple. “You hardly moved all night. Just what I wanted.”
Neil scooted into the place Ren vacated, and soon they were all squishing onto the bed. Gordon pulled me against him. “We’re going to close our eyes for a little bit. Long night. We collected all of the stuff and the people we were bringing with us. Took a little maneuvering. Plus, there was this long stretch of time when it hurt to breathe because you had cut us off.”
“For the record, I think it would have been okay for you to turn back on when you were on the ferry. We would have died rather than tell any irate people with a boat where you were.”
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