Lost Causes

by Mia Marshall

  Luke didn’t glance up from his neat stitches. “They’re doing something,” he said. “But damned if I know what that is.”

  Before bed, we reported on the day’s progress between yawns. Sera had spoken to half the people already. None could recollect a Helen ever living with them. Somehow, she managed to stay calm, despite hitting one dead end after another. To my frustration, my day was so structured and my schedule so unforgiving that I had no opportunity to help her.

  After two weeks on the island, Luke and I were no closer to a cure. The more we inquired about Eila, the more they isolated us, until we feared saying anything at all.

  Sometimes, the first magic appeared during our breaks. She roamed amongst her pets, offering them quiet words or a soft touch. When her fingers stroked their skin, their eyes softened and their jaws grew slack, euphoria written across their features. Afterwards, they stared at her with reverence. Receiving magic was like a drug, Luke had said. I suspected some heroin addicts didn’t love their needle as much as these elementals worshiped Eila’s touch.

  Of the four of us, she only came to Mac. His face locked as she approached, but it didn’t matter how much he hardened himself. As soon as she touched him, he was overcome by bliss. Many times, he watched her walk away. At those moments, I didn’t want to know what he was thinking.

  As for the rest of us, she’d given us a taste on the beach, then appeared to forget we existed. Whenever I moved toward her, she managed to be somewhere else.

  During our third week, I made a half-hearted attempt to sneak away while the others ate lunch. A young desert whose name I didn’t know caught up to me and peppered me with questions. I’d have thought it unfortunate timing, but the next day several people spread themselves around the border of the camp at regular intervals.

  “Are we prisoners?”

  “Of course not.” Tricia worked alongside me and Luke, as she often did. She kept her eyes on the needle as it dipped in and out of the fabric.

  “Then why haven’t we been able to leave camp?”

  The needle didn’t pause. It made six neat stitches before Tricia replied. “Do you wish to leave? I thought you were here to see Eila.”

  “I am. We are. But she seems like a very busy first magic. Full schedule and all that.”

  “You’ll see her.”

  “When?” Luke asked.

  Her needle dipped again. “When Eila decides. Everyone on this island shares. We give, and we receive. Right now, you only wish to receive.”

  “The way you gave her your power?”

  “Exactly. We each donate our magic to Eila.” There was something off. She spoke a little too fast, remained a little too interested in her stitches.

  I completed a few stitches of my own. They were sloppier than my previous ones. “What does she do with those donations, exactly? She did something to the beach when we arrived.”

  Tricia relaxed into a genuine smile. “Wasn’t that amazing? She feeds it into the land itself. So long as it holds enough power, only those with magic blood can find her. We’re practically invisible to humans. She hadn’t fed it that day, which was why the girl could see her.”

  I spared a thought for Jet, likely still waiting on the beach for the council to return. Someone really needed to check in with her soon.

  Luke grew thoughtful. “I’m guessing it gives the island some calming effects too. Aidan and I haven’t struggled with our dual natures since arriving.”

  He was right, and it wasn’t only that my rage had quieted. Despite everything we needed to accomplish, all the reasons to feel anxious, our stress never lingered long. It was always replaced by a vague certainty that our problems could be dealt with the following day.

  I wondered if the island had a similar effect on all its residents. You didn’t need to put a sedative in the water if people walked on one all day.

  It was the kind of thing that might make someone delay finding a cure they desperately needed. They might make only a half-hearted effort to discover news about their lost mother.

  “You only gave her a bit of your energy on the beach. Is that really all it takes to keep the entire island hidden?” I asked.

  If I hadn’t been watching closely, I’d have missed the short intake of breath. “No. I mean, I can’t say.” She stood. “I have to go. Gerta is calling me.”

  If Gerta was calling Tricia, it was by freaking telepathy. Even so, Tricia rushed through the open flap, leaving me and Luke alone.

  “That was interesting,” he said drily.

  “And totally not suspicious,” I added.

  He grinned at me, that easy smile that had probably led to the downfall of countless women.

  “Out of curiosity, do you feel like you’re being drugged into mindless complacency?”

  He dropped his sewing. “I hope not, though it does explain some things. You?”

  “Maybe? I keep forgetting to think about things I’m supposed to think about. But I already feel more awake, just in the last couple minutes. It’s like knowing how the trick is done means it’s harder to fool us.”

  Luke agreed, standing up and stretching until his hands hit the roof of the tent. “I’m wondering what these bastards will do if we play hooky. How about we see what happens if we forget to be complacent?” He winked at me. “We’ll call it a mental health day.”

  We stepped into the sunshine, and I blinked against the bright light. Then I blinked again, because I didn’t quite understand what I was seeing.

  It appeared the soporific qualities of the island were no longer affecting Sera, either. Considering the situation, I wasn’t convinced that was a good thing.

  Eila and Sera stood inches apart, and my sister pointed an angry finger in the face of one of the most powerful creatures in the world.

  CHAPTER 16

  “Where is she?” Sera made no effort to control her temper. Her fingers weren’t just sparking. Full flames exploded from each tip. Her eyes blazed, and her hair was even wilder than the being she faced.

  Sera’s agitation had no effect on Eila. The first remained as placid as ever. Her coloring cycled regularly from one element to the next. She stretched a hand toward Sera. “Know peace, child.”

  Sera jumped backwards, avoiding the calming touch. “I’m not your child, and I asked you a question.”

  Eila’s hair darkened to black and stayed there. Her voice was still musical, but it held hints of discord, a bow screeching across a single violin string. “You question me.”

  “Why not? I’ve questioned everyone else, and they all lied to me. This is your fucking island, so I’m asking you. What happened to Helen? Where the hell is my mother?”

  Tricia tugged on Sera’s arm. “There’s no Helen here. I don’t think there ever was.” She was trying to defuse the situation, but her voice was too high-pitched to soothe anyone.

  My sister waved a piece of white cloth in Eila’s face. It was covered in writing I couldn’t read it at this distance. “I found this tucked inside an old book. It’s hers. I’d recognize her style anywhere. She’s the one who taught me how to draw.”

  The wind caught the cloth, pulling it straight long enough for me to see a black and white sketch of the beach with the ocean beyond. Not letters. A picture, like Sera always drew.

  “Is she alive? Tell me!” The words were somewhere between a demand and a desperate plea.

  Eila stood as immobile as any statue for a quite a while, though her hair settled into its usual rotating colors. When she spoke, her voice was again in perfect harmony.

  “Your will is too strong.” She tilted her head, contemplating Sera as if she were a puzzle to solve. Then, with an oddly human sigh, she raised her hands. “It is a pity.”

  I was too far, but I still tried running toward her. Luke restrained me.

  “Wait.” He jerked his chin towards Mac, who’d stepped between Sera and Eila before the first could act.

  “You think that’s an improvement?” I tried wrenching my arm fr
om his grasp, but my newfound arm muscles weren’t enough to overpower him.

  To my surprise, Eila lowered her hands the moment Mac stood before her. Her eyes softened to a golden brown. “Shifter,” she murmured.

  “Sera is my friend. It would greatly upset me if anything happened to her.” He looked down at Eila, a position she didn’t seem to like. Her body expanded, rising until they were eye to eye.

  “You do not need to be upset. You need never be upset.” She didn’t so much speak as purr.

  “Some wounds are difficult to heal. This one would take a long time.” He smiled, his eyes turning the soft brown I only saw when he looked at me.

  My jaw dropped. My boyfriend was using his wiles on that ancient creature—and she seemed to be responding.

  Well, she responded for a bit. “Time?” The word was foreign in her mouth.

  The ground undulated, separating Mac from Sera. Once again, my sister stood exposed.

  I inhaled, preparing to run or scream or dance a jig, anything to distract Eila.

  “Stop!”

  It wasn’t me. A husky voice rang through the crowd. I’d heard it before. It was Ani, the woman who’d insisted we weren’t allowed on the island.

  I hadn’t run into her since we arrived, which should have seemed unusual. In such a small camp, we met the same people day after day, but somehow I’d forgotten about her. It appeared complacency came in many forms.

  We hadn’t seen Ani’s face on that first day, only her wild black hair. Now, she strode toward us. Her skin wasn’t as bronze as a full fire, and her eyes weren’t as dark as Sera’s, but they tilted up the same way my sister’s did, and the cheekbones and chin were identical.

  Sera’s mother stopped ten feet away. “I’m here. You’ve found me, so you can stop your ruckus. I’m disappointed to see you haven’t learned self-control.”

  Even from this distance, I could see Sera’s heart break. Mine did the same. This couldn’t be the woman she’d mourned for more than forty years. No mother would be so cruel.

  “You shouldn’t have come. This is my home, not yours. I didn’t want to be found.” Ani’s expression never changed as she spoke, and it didn’t change when she turned her back on her daughter and walked away.

  That night, Eila came for us.

  Being an all-powerful magical being, she didn’t politely knock on the door and wait for an invitation. Instead, she appeared while we were sound asleep and announced her presence by creating a giant ball of fire at least three feet in diameter. She hung it from the roof like a chandelier.

  I jerked awake to find her staring down at me and Mac. “He won’t love you if you go mad,” she said.

  I struggled into a sitting position. “Is that commentary, or do you have a solution?”

  She didn’t answer. She floated to Sera, already wide awake and crouched atop her bedding. “You have disturbed the camp.”

  I thought we settled things earlier that day. After her mom rejected her, Sera’s fight drained from her. She left the camp, and though her spine was straight and proud, I knew it required every ounce of strength she possessed to walk to our tent without breaking down.

  Eila had watched her leave and said nothing.

  Now, Eila ran her fingers across Sera’s cheek. My sister’s expression melted into the pure pleasure I always saw when Eila shared her magic, but as soon as Eila released her, Sera grew wary. The first’s coloring sped up.

  “You cannot stay with us,” she declared.

  If I hadn’t been fully awake before, that would have done it. “You’re sending us away?”

  “You must pay.”

  Mac moved closer to me. “Pay?” He tried using the soft tone Eila liked but couldn’t hide the rough growl underneath.

  “You have eaten. Slept in our beds. Worn our clothes. Taken power without returning it. There are costs.”

  I stood. If we were negotiating, resting on a mattress made of leaves didn’t feel like the power position.

  Mac stood with me. “We labored with the others. We contributed.”

  Eila stilled. I’d come to recognize that as her thinking pose. Her horribly unsettling thinking pose.

  At last, she reached a decision. “Your labor will be payment for the food and shelter. The magic tithe is unpaid.”

  She took sips from everyone. We’d watched her do so many times, then observed as she fed that power into the island. No one appeared to be in pain while she withdrew their power, and they all healed soon after.

  “We’re okay with that.”

  Luke and Sera agreed. Mac couldn’t offer the same, as shifter magic wasn’t a renewable resource.

  “But we didn’t come here for a couple of weeks at camp,” I said. “Luke and I can’t exist in the outside world with our two halves separated. We won’t leave until we’re healed.” Sweat ran down my spine. It was probably unwise to give Eila an ultimatum.

  It didn’t go unnoticed. “That is not your decision.”

  Luke shot me a warning glance. He forced himself to look at the first. “How about you decide then? What would be a fair trade for curing us?”

  “You will increase your tithe?”

  Across the room, Luke nodded. For once, Sera seemed uncertain.

  “What is your price?” I asked.

  “Him.” She pointed at Mac.

  I stopped myself before I throttled her, but I imagined it in vivid detail. “Nuh-uh. No way.” I scowled. In that moment, I forgot what she was. All I saw was some bitch trying to steal my boyfriend.

  My boyfriend who was considering her offer.

  “What do you want from me?” he asked.

  “I cannot feed from shifters as I do the others. Your power does not replenish. Instead, I will take you. I would feel a shifter.”

  I shook my head and kept shaking it. “No. No taking. No feeling of any kind.”

  Mac’s hand grasped my wrist in silent warning.

  Eila blinked. It wasn’t natural, more like a memory of how a human should move. “You will lose him either way.”

  Every muscle in Mac’s body tensed. Anger simmered below the surface, the bear waking up. His magic pulled on mine, grasping for stability, and I fed him the calm of my water side, though I didn’t have much calm to spare.

  “No,” I said again.

  “Go mad and lose him or give him to me. One way allows you to remain yourself.”

  “Your cost is too high.” It wasn’t just too high. It was unimaginable.

  She waited. At least a full minute passed while we stared at each other. For the first time since I’d arrived, my rage began to stir. Whatever dampening effect the island had, it was nothing compared to the blind anger coiling through me. Only Mac’s touch kept me grounded.

  Eila gave nothing away. I’d started to think she’d entered a state of suspended animation when she spoke at last.

  “He comes to me for a single night.”

  “No.” I tried to remember other words. “No nights. No coming of any kind. A nice meal, we can do that. A long walk on the beach. That’s it.”

  She gaped at me, and for a moment I thought I’d astounded a creature as old as time. “You negotiate?”

  I locked my jaw, afraid of what I might say next.

  Mac’s fingers tightened around my wrist. “I’ll do it.”

  I still had a hand free. I used it to punch his chest as hard as I could. He didn’t even grunt, the bastard.

  “No, he won’t.”

  Mac spun me so I faced him. “Aidan, we already had this discussion. We get to make our own choices, and this isn’t yours to make. If this fixes you, I’ll do it. We agreed to do whatever it takes.”

  “But not this.” My voice cracked. “This won’t fix me, Mac. This will break me.”

  He closed his eyes, hiding his own pain. “But this way we get the chance to put you back together.”

  Sera’s eyes implored me to accept the offer. It was only sex, after all. It wasn’t like Mac was a virgin. I cou
ldn’t even say he was cheating on me, considering he was being coerced into it. Relationships had survived worse.

  But when I remembered the ecstasy that crossed his face whenever Eila placed her hands on him, insanity seemed like a better option.

  Mac studied Eila. “I have conditions.”

  She glided toward him, looking both covetous and fascinated. “State them.”

  “You heal both Aidan and Luke.”

  She didn’t hesitate. “Acceptable.”

  “Sera is given an hour alone to speak with her mother. With Ani.”

  Eila rushed to agree.

  Mac’s voice remained as steady as if he were negotiating a business deal he was still willing to walk away from. “Also, Aidan needs to be cured before I’ll do anything, and it needs to be permanent. When her magic isn’t threatening her sanity, then I’ll go with you. Only then.”

  His sentences were precise as he tried to close any possible loophole.

  “Yes.” Eila answered so eagerly I wasn’t certain she’d even listened.

  Mac relaxed. “As soon as those conditions are met, I’ll go to you. After that, we leave the island. As you wanted.”

  She rested her fingertips against his chest once more. I gritted my teeth. He fought the pleasure she offered, but it never mattered. Her touch overpowered his will.

  “You are giving yourself to me,” she confirmed.

  “I have one other condition.” He grew larger, the bear just below the surface. “You don’t forget, not for a single second, that I don’t want this. Whatever you do with your touch, whatever magic you control, it doesn’t change my heart. My heart will never want you.”

  Eila only smiled. “It is unimportant. You are willing. That is what matters.”

  My teeth ground together, but I managed to stay quiet.

  “It will not be instant. They may resist the cure. You must be patient, but I will change them.” Eila spoke of me and Luke, but her eyes were fixed on Mac, black and gray and brown all at once. “Afterwards, I will change you,” she promised him.

  Somehow, I didn’t explode into a giant ball of rage.

  There was nothing else to discuss. Eila blurred around the edges and her skin faded. It took seconds for her to dissipate and become part of the air. The fireball chandelier vanished with her, leaving us in the dark.