This was it. I couldn't believe she'd finally done it. Odette stood there, shaking violently, her magical mask wavering between the middle aged woman she presented to the public and the withered, furious old crone she really was. Gram was actually beaming in joy, though I knew that happiness was fed on pure revenge."Challenging another coven leader is against our laws." Mom's magic rippled around her, branches and swirls winding through her clothing, her hair. She was prepared, I could feel it, the humming connection between she and I, and the rest of the coven loud and clear.Against the law or not, she would fight. And be in the right.Odette knew it. Held back because of it. She'd spoken the words, but no action had been taken. This could still end peacefully. Probably wouldn't, but there it was.Until Gram decided to do some more prodding."You're as weak as your sister," she said with that same grin on her face, a hint of her old madness in her eyes. "I manipulated her too,
"Odette Dumont!" Mom's power rose, flooding her with light, driving the werewolves and vampires back from the circle of energy her magic created. "Your challenge is accepted."Gram snarled her fury, holding back her magic by only a hair's breath.Syd, Mom's mind touched mine, no matter what happens, I love you and always will.She cut me off before I could answer, hold onto her, deny the message she'd sent."I demand the right of single combat." Mom's hair rippled as if a strong wind toyed with it. "No need to draw our covens into a war. Only we two need to decide this fight."Odette's smile was feral, her real face showing through, though I was sure she allowed it to this time. "Agreed.""Mother," Andre tried again, but Odette swung one hand, striking him across the face. He fell back, his resentment and anger clear."I accept!" Odette's magic rose as Mom's had, surrounding her in a pulsing column of lavender and blue.Hands fell on me, pulled me away. I looked up at Dad in re
Black robed figures circled us in the sky, some hovering in place, others swooping in a pattern above. Three landed, their power gently parting the top of the dome. Odette panted her way to her feet, rage out of control even as one of the figures swept back his hood."You are ordered," he said, deep voice full of power as his light brown eyes swept over us, "to cease and desist all hostilities by order of the North American High Council of Witches."Enforcers. Had to be. Fed by the universal power of the entire Council, only they could be so strong to shut down the battle. I could feel the tingle of defensive magic coming from him, how it sparked in his honey brown hair.About time they showed up.Mom bowed her head to the Enforcer. "I was challenged," she said."Irrelevant." He glared at all of us. "Such challenges are illegal. You know better, Hayle coven leader."Gram growled something under her breath, but held her peace while Odette drew herself up, trembling, face wreathed
Sunlight streamed in the kitchen windows, turning the Enforcer's honey hair a glowing gold. I sat and watched him, Sassafras in my lap, while Mom served him tea."We've been trying to reach the High Council for some time," Mom said while the man seemed to squirm in discomfort. "Can you shed some light on why we've been ignored, Enforcer Tremere?""Pender, please, Ms. Hayle." He sat stiff and uncomfortable. "I'm afraid that's a question you'll have to ask the Council. I'm merely a messenger. And an officer of coven law. I follow orders as they are given to me."I wanted to confront him, but Gram's mind wouldn't let me.We could have an ally here, she sent. There is still honor among my brothers and sisters it seems.After he'd left, with very little more information wrung from him, Mom sighed and hugged herself, staring into her teacup."This isn't over," she said."No," Gram said, dropping lump after lump into hers with little bursts of magic, "but at least now we know who we're
What was it about the feel of him that brought me running even when I hated him just then? The back yard felt so far away as I scrambled out of bed, lurched from my room, down the stairs and through the screen door. I stopped myself finally, panting and angry.No way were we playing this damned game again. I glared at Quaid where he stood, hands in his pockets, a thin T-shirt the only thing between him and me. That and the ten-foot gap my anger insisted on. "What do you want?" I hated the mere touch of his mind had so much unconscious control over me. He'd left me, hadn't he? How dare he come back like this after abandoning our family magic, severing the link between us, shacking up with that ice-cold bitch Ameline?He didn't say anything for a moment, gaze on the ground."Well?" I stormed closer to him, the hem of my pajama bottoms instantly soaked with dew from the grass. "Look at me, you coward."Quaid did. And the moment our eyes met all of my anger and hurt went away. I couldn
What a summer.Mom spent the next two weeks going from house to house, connecting and reconnecting with every single member of our coven. Including, it turned out, those who were willing to betray her. Imagine. I would have kicked their sorry asses out and let them join the Dumonts, but Mom had a longer fuse than I did and, clearly, some other agenda I didn't know about.Turned out I was right about Celeste being a Purity member. James too. They and a handful of others were the only ones who survived the battle, adopted into the Hayle family when the Dumonts refused to take them in.When Naudia committed herself, losing her family magic to Gram, it didn't just drive my grandmother crazy. It killed most of her followers. A massacre of the woman's own making. I couldn't imagine committing that much power to hate, enough to destroy those who looked to me for leadership.No wonder Gram went crazy. All those people's dying energy? I'd have gone around the bend and never come back.Gues
Book Six: GatekeeperThere is nothing more frustrating than staring at a blinking cursor when you want it to move. I just wanted it to start flashing, the little pen to pop up so I would know the person on the other end was writing a message. Something. Anything.I'd been spending a lot of time staring at the stupid thing lately. Too much, really. But it was a compulsion I couldn't shake. Not when there was a chance Quaid might finally contact me.Pathetic, I know, I know. It's not like I was the kind of girl to hang on her boyfriend's every movement, word or contact. But the circumstances of our relationship were a little... odd to say the least. I was stuck here in Wilding Springs on pins and needles, safe and sound with my family and coven while he was out there, alone and vulnerable, playing a very dangerous game of cat and mouse with his birth family. And all because he had a score to settle.Settling scores I understood intimately. I'd had my own to deal with in the last ye
Bleary eyed and grumpy, I trudged to the bathroom door, reaching for the knob before thudding full on into the wooden barrier with my entire body. Locked. Locked? Oh yeah, my little sister was back from camp. I'd gotten used to not sharing a bathroom with her since she'd been gone all summer. And since she'd barely said two words to me since she arrived home yesterday, and with the whole Quaid worry thing on my mind, I'd forgotten I was back to waiting on a nine year old to do her stuff.Hang on, make it ten. Meira had a birthday just before she left, right? I sighed and leaned my forehead against the door. My whole life ran together in a mix of disaster and every day, so much I could barely keep anything straight."Hang on!" Wow, that sounded snippy. I backed off, leaning against the wall, arms crossed over my chest."Sorry." A yawn gaped. "I forgot you were home."Way to be mean to your sister, Syd. I winced and rushed on. "Want to go for ice cream after school? You can tell me a