by Elle Casey
She glared at me. "Same old reckless girl. Not a thought for the consequences." She looked at my stomach. "I thought motherhood would've set your head on right."
I put both hands over my belly. "You don't worry about me being a mother or about my children. You just stay the hell away from them."
She cackled. "I think you will regret asking that of me, and not too far in the future, either." She kept on cackling, even after she opened the door and gestured for us to follow her in.
CHAPTER TWENTY
SPIKE AND I followed Maggie into her tiny living room area. I took a seat in one of her chairs and Spike lowered himself to the footstool in front of me. The old witch flopped down in a rocking chair that had seen much better days, moving it forward and back, making the old pieces of wood creak in protest. "So, young fae, to what do I owe this honor?" She gestured at Spike and me. Her tone was very sarcastic.
"Mistress Maggie, we are here to seek your help and advice with regard to the Forsaken." Spike was at it again with his nutty plan to treat Maggie like she was royalty, which was probably a pretty brilliant plan since she seemed to be eating it up like candy, but there was no way I could play that game with her.
His words had Maggie sitting up straight and paying attention. "What did you say?"
"The Forsaken. I have seen them."
Suddenly, it was my turn to be surprised. He'd actually seen them? I stared at Spike, my eyeballs feeling like they were about to fall out of my head. "Since when? Where? What did they look like?"
Spike glanced at me for a second but he addressed Maggie with his answer. "I spent some time in the Gray walking as a near-death spirit. Once I had been in there for a while, my life force was almost gone, and that's when they appeared. They ignored me, probably because they thought I was never going to leave, but I always knew I would move on—either to the Here and Now or the Overworld—and so I was able to retain much of what I saw and heard when they were around."
"Why didn't you tell me this?" I put my hand on his arm pulling it toward me. I hated to think he'd come so close to those demons of death. I wanted to wrap all my elements around him and keep him safe forever. I'd turn him into a gift that no one but me would ever be able to open—my Spike. I let him go and twisted the ring he gave me around on my finger. It made my heart leap to think that we were actually engaged. And having twins! Oh my god! My life is crazy! How can I keep him safe?!
"I told Dardennes and Celine all about it," Spike said. "That's why I was in their office. But I hadn't had a chance to tell you yet. Everybody wants to get Maggie's help with this, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone." He took my hand and held it tightly. "Please don't be mad at me. We just haven't had a lot of time since I got back to figure everything out." He leaned in close and whispered in my ear. "We haven't had a chance for you to tell me what you're doing running around in a bra, either."
I shook my head and then nodded right after. I didn't want him to think I was angry with him, but I was still feeling a little lost. "No, it's okay. I'm not mad. I just…didn't expect this." I paused, processing the last bit of what he said. "I'll explain the bra thing later."
"Neither did I expect this," said Maggie. She was no longer rocking in her chair but leaning toward Spike with great interest. "And that is rare. Tell me more. What did you see? What did you hear?"
Spike leaned toward her too, his hands together now and loosely folded in front of him as he rested his tattooed forearms on his bent knees. "They have moved out of the shadows and are now waiting in the Gray. They have fae helping them on the outside." Spike looked at me. "You can probably guess who's running the show there."
"Leck." I seriously wanted to punch that guy right in the nuts. And if I ever got the opportunity to do it, I was not going to miss my chance. His nuts were toast as far as I was concerned.
"Leck and Malena, of course," Spike added. "His favorite silver elf."
"They were at the mental hospital where I was," I said to both Spike and Maggie. "Malena was, anyway. I never saw Leck, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he were hanging out there too."
"My guess is he was too busy in the Gray working with the Forsaken," Spike said.
"And what are their plans?" Maggie was literally rubbing her hands together. I could almost see a strategy forming in her mind, spells she was going to concoct, lizards she was going to disembowel so she would have the right ingredients. I wished I had the confidence that this was all it would take to defeat them, but I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be as simple as that.
"I'm sure I don't know everything there is to know about their plans, but I do know that they want to see Jayne. Get to her. I didn't get the impression that they wanted to kill her, but they definitely have business with her. At first it was with Ben and her both, but then they forgot about Ben and focused just on Jayne alone." Spike frowned, looking confused.
"Because Ben is no longer in the picture," I said softly. "He sacrificed himself to save me from my elements, and he gave me his elements to use against the Forsaken, since he knew he was going to be gone when they arrived." I was never going to stop feeling terrible over that. I had been so wrong about him.
Spike reached over and took my hand. "I'm sorry. I know he was a challenge for you, but that was a very kind thing for him to do."
"Kind only slightly covers it. It was a gift. A gift of life. Like what Tony did for you."
Spike and I shared some moments of silence until Maggie broke it all apart with more questions.
"Where will they appear? When?"
Spike broke his gaze from mine and faced the witch. "I don't know a date. They never actually said anything about a date, but they did mention the equinox."
Maggie slowly nodded, her chair rocking again. "Yes, the autumnal equinox in September. Yes, this makes perfect sense."
"How so?" It was my turn to sit on the edge of my seat and wait for answers.
"The elemental magic will be strongest during this time, in the weeks before and on the actual equinox. Right now, they are gathering strength. They are gathering information. Once they have everything together and their power is at its strongest, they will utilize the alignment of the sun and gravity, and the effects on the ley lines to channel their power, and they will strike."
"At me?"
"Not just at you," Spike said looking from me to Maggie. "They have several pieces of the puzzle they're going to use. They're going to attack humans and fae all around the globe. It's going to be total chaos."
I could barely swallow the glob of spit that got stuck in my throat. Spike was literally talking about Armageddon.
"It will not get that far," Maggie said, getting to her feet. She shuffled over to her kitchen and started pulling ingredients off the shelf, slamming them down on the table next to her cauldron in the center of the room.
"What are you doing? You're not going to start cooking are you?" I glanced at her pantry that held boxes and boxes of mimickers, pieces of souls from fae around the world. She didn't have any of mine in there anymore, but I was pretty sure she had some of Spike's. I stood and walked over, stopping at the doorway to that pantry.
"Don't you even think about going in there," Maggie said without looking at me.
"I want Spike's mimickers. I don't want you using them in any of your creepy spells."
She slammed a wooden spoon down on the table and glared at me. "You don't want your lover protected? You don't want the father of your children protected from these Forsaken who are coming for you, and who will use him as leverage to get to you? I think he'd make a pretty tasty bargaining chip, don't you?"
I could feel the color draining from my face. "No. I will not let them use him that way."
"How will you keep it from happening, girl?" She tipped her head back, giving me a horribly clear view of her hairy, wart-covered chin. "If you keep his soul apart from my spell, he will be without protection."
"How do I know that your crap will protect him and
not hurt him?" I never knew who Maggie's loyalties were aligned with. She'd screwed me over enough times for me to know she never blindly supported me. She supported her own little secret agenda.
"Have I not, since the moment you were born, worked to put you on the right path?"
I laughed right in her face. "You've got to be kidding me." She was the turd who'd convinced me to bind with Ben, when all along it had been a stupid trick designed to…I didn't know…make sure Ben could control me? Make sure she could control me and my elements for her own use? I never did find out why she wanted me with him so badly. She was damn good at manipulation, that was for sure, but putting me on the right path? Uh, no.
"You're blind, child, but one day you will see." She walked over to the shelf and rummaged around, moving several bottles until she found one of her big fat rats. She started yelling, because apparently, he was as old as she was and twice as hard of hearing. "Melvin, my sweet! It's time for you to do your duty!" She cackled as she held his butt directly over her cooking pot. She squeezed him until he squealed and dropped a couple poop nuggets into the waiting brew. "Good work, Mellie! Your duty is almost done! Now, give Momma a little more!" She squeezed him again, both hands putting deep dents in his fur, and three more turdles dropped out. Once she had what she wanted, she flung him over her shoulder, sending him flying across the kitchen.
I cringed in fear for his life, but he landed on the shelf in exactly the same spot from where she had taken him and scurried away to hide behind a line of dirty jars. Her rat-tossing accuracy made me think she might actually be capable of winning a game of horse on the basketball court.
"Well…she's got a good arm, anyway," Spike said from behind me.
I wasn't going to let her awesome rat throwing skills misdirect me from what I wanted to talk about. "Maggie, what is the spell you're making exactly? What's it called? I'm going to ask Sam about it, and I won't let you use it on me or Spike until I get approval from her."
"You don't need to worry about yourself. Your cousin Samantha has already done your protective spell. Nice work taking your mimickers and putting them under your bed." She actually giggled after dropping that choice news onto my head.
I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands into fists. Dammit. Sam is making spells with my mimickers? She was going to answer for that. She was taking way too many liberties with my stuff. I'd told her to watch my little soul bits, not use them in her stupid witchy recipes.
"Tell me what the spell is," I insisted. "I don't care if Sam's already been dabbling in that crap. I need to know the name of it."
Maggie shrugged. "This is a need-to-know-basis spell and you don't need to know." She started singing a little tune under her breath…off-key of course. "Green things, green things, lovely jubbly green things…"
I was about to rip her a new one when Spike came up next to me and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me toward him. I took it as a signal to let him take over, and I was happy to do it. I wasn't generally pro the idea of abusing the elderly, but she was seriously tempting me.
"Let's say you're going to put this protective spell over all the fae including me, and Sam's got Jayne covered, so what do we have to worry about? It sounds like the Forsaken are just going to be out there flailing around without any kind of success."
"Do not underestimate the power of darkness," Maggie said, throwing powders and bits of leaves and other crap I didn't want to think about into her pot. As it boiled, a mist began to form on top of it. It was a dark green color that made me imagine the toe fungus Maggie probably had hiding under her ugly brown slippers.
"So, this is just a precautionary thing that might slow them down, is that what you're saying?" Spike asked.
"If we're lucky."
"Great! Half-assed witch magic. You know how much I love that," I said, rolling my eyes.
Spike's arm dropped from my shoulders but he kept talking. "What should we do with the information I found out from listening to the Forsaken?" Spike asked.
"Talk to your precious Council. They must gather their forces across the globe. Look for large gatherings of people in central cities known for their influence over the population."
"Large gatherings?" I asked.
"You mean like church services?" Spike asked.
"Bigger," Maggie said.
"Political rallies?" I suggested.
"Maybe. Maybe not."
Spike looked at me. "We need to get on the computers at the compound and see if we can find what she's talking about."
"They will all be connected," Maggie said, busily stirring her pot, waving some of the mist toward her face so she could inhale it. "They will all have something in common. The people attending will be easily influenced. Look for a coordinated plan." She reached behind her and threw an entire jar of something, lid and all, right into the pot. It caused a minor explosion and then a billowing yellow smoke.
Spike and I backed up a few paces.
"I will communicate with those in my circle," Maggie said, stepping out from around the smoke screen she'd created. "We will work together. We will communicate through her." Maggie flung her spoon out in my direction but only after she'd stirred up her brew once more. Droplets of the cauldron's brew splashed across my face, giving me an up close and personal introduction to its fine bouquet. If I were to describe it, I would call it skunk-ape-fromunda-cheese-flavored. Yeah, it was that bad.
Spike cringed and took a step away from me.
I slowly wiped the disgusting crap off my face with the back of my wrist and flung it toward her pot. Unfortunately, it stuck to my arm like tree sap. "Thank you for that. Just what I needed—ape shit on my face."
"You must get back to your compound and stay there. Don't go running around the forest like a natty-headed water sprite. Gather your people. Prepare yourselves and your fellow fae. Ready yourselves for a war like you've never seen. It will be fought on several fronts. It will drag the humans in. It will more than likely destroy us all."
My heart was beating way too fast. Smelling like ape shit was not my most pressing problem, something I had temporarily forgotten. "Are we talking about Armageddon here? Is that what you're getting at?"
She stopped stirring and looked up at me, resting her spoon on the edge of her cauldron. "Call it what you want. There has been nothing like it before and there will be nothing like it again. We will all be lucky to survive. I tried to stop this from happening, but you were too stubborn. Always sticking your nose in other people's business, never listening to those fae around you who knew better, never listening to reason. You just blundered your way through life, and this is where it's gotten us. Now there's nothing we can do but hope and fight."
I pointed to my chest. "You're blaming this disaster on me?"
"Did you or did you not ignore my warnings and my advice at every turn?"
"Not exactly. I listened sometimes." I struggled to think of a single moment when I actually did listen to her and couldn't really come up with anything, except for going through with that binding ceremony with Ben.
"My sisters and I tried everything in our power to stop you from going forward to visit with that dragon, but did you take the hint? No. You found a way around every spell, around every trick, around every façade. You are the most hardheaded, stubborn, determined human fae girl I've ever seen in my life. And because you continued on, you exposed yourself to great danger and influences with bad intentions."
I took offense to the fact that I was going to be blamed for the end of the world. It felt like that was overdoing it a little bit. Hell, Céline was the one who'd messed with fate, trying to get Torrie to fall in love with her. And it was Maggie who'd helped her all those years ago. I wasn't sure how me fulfilling my duty to the dragon in the Underworld had anything to do with whatever she'd just said, but it didn't matter. What was done was done, and I wasn't about to time-slip again to try and fix anything. And damn…old hairy-chinned, bag-o-bones Maggie had a lot of nerve, talking about me being
stubborn and doing my own thing all the time when she was about as rogue as they came. "I guess the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree does it?"
"Leave!" she demanded, back to stirring her brew with an expression of intense concentration. "Leave me now! I have things to do, and no time to play games with you."
I walked to the door, grabbing Spike's hand and dragging him along with me as I went. He had been rendered speechless by Maggie's insults, but I was not suffering the same problem. I got to the far end of the room and flung the door open, turning to look at her and deliver my parting shots. "Fine. You want to blame me for everything that's happened? Cool. I can handle it. But I'll tell you what… When some Forsaken dude comes over here and fries your butt cheeks and turns your skin inside out, don't you dare come crying to me and asking me for help. And I'll tell you something else, too…I don't care what you say; I'm not to blame for this. I'm not the person with a whole roomful of other people's souls, messing in their destinies. I'm not the one who's trying to control everything. That's you and the other two uglies, Judith and Victoria. You guys are the ones who got us into this mess because you couldn't leave other fae alone. You couldn't let fae choose their own destinies and choose their own paths. This fucked up situation is what you get when you try to control other people!"
She screeched her words as I shut the door behind us. "You are just a child! You don't know anything about the world! We are not to blame!"
"I know a lie when I hear one, and I just heard one! Lie!" The tree shuddered with the force of me slamming the door shut. Several leaves floated down and landed in our path as we began to walk away.
"You told her," Spike said, laughing a little.
It felt really good to be away from her. She used to sometimes give me good advice and help me understand how to use my powers, but lately all she did was make me upset and worried. She had gotten her magic messed up in things that she shouldn't have. It was why she was so ugly. She had messed in dark magic and she was paying the price; it was written all over her face. And she'd lied to me when she said I didn't know anything and that she wasn't to blame for the mess we were in. It was true, I didn't know everything, but I knew enough, and my gut was telling me that Maggie and her nasty sisters were not to be trusted. My nerves were jangling and my hands were shaking, but I was pretty damn proud of myself. "Yeah, I did tell her off, didn't I?"