The screen door slammed behind me, bare feet instantly chilled by the damp patio stones.Didn't matter. Could have been the dead of winter and I wouldn't have cared."Quaid." I forced myself to a halt, refrained from throwing myself into his arms, covering his shadowed face in kisses, letting his power wrap around me like a blanket and stir things inside me. He still had that effect on me? Damn it. I thought I'd gotten better at cutting off my feelings for him.Had lots of practice at school where we did our best to ignore each other and go on with our lives as if we didn't feel anything."Syd." He held himself rigid, body tall and still inside his black Enforcer's robe, a thin band of blue at the cuffs marking him as a trainee. Did he feel what I felt?Did I care?"Nice to see you." I'd seen him, of course I had. We attended the same school, after all. But we both avoided each other, for the most part. He had his life, I had mine. There were moments over the course of the year I
The light of day helped me gain some perspective, wiping away my fear and making me doubt what I'd dreamed."You've dreamed before," Charlotte said over a steaming cup of the thickest coffee I'd ever choked on. She insisted on making her own, our American brew just too weak for her Old World tastes. "And those dreams have been warnings, foreshadowings."It was kind of nice to have someone in my life who actually believed me when I said something was happening. And yet, I found myself shaking my head as I slid into the seat at the head of the table, my back to the basement door, and toyed with my glass of orange juice. "I dreamed about falling on Demonicon," I said. "If this was some kind of warning, why did I have the same nightmare at the end of it?"Yes, nightmare. I'd been having the falling dream pretty regularly since we came home from the other plane. My near-death experience left a stamp of terror on my psyche, the absolute fear I'd felt as I slid over the side of the disable
Why was it my default location when I felt sad had Liam in it? Not that I was deep in the doldrums or anything, but thinking about Meira leaving me was enough to set me off in search of comfort.Didn't help Gram was still nowhere to be found. The rest of the house felt so quiet. Maybe that was why I couldn't stand to stay around while the sound of Meira's laughter and chatter echoed from upstairs like she was in another world.I sealed the wards on the house as I left, sending her a soft touch of magic to let her know where I was going. She hugged me quickly back, a flash of a very cute guy passing between us before she blocked me out, giggling. I was a little surprised to find Sassafras at my feet, tail twitching, as I locked the kitchen door.Who was I to question why he needed out of the house? Maybe Meira's growing up bothered him, too.Not feeling super talkative, but in the need for exercise, I led our small procession, Charlotte at my side, toward town hall and my Sidhe frie
We were a quiet bunch heading back to the house. Liam was lost in thought and his own inner geeky excitement, grinning at me from time to time, a kid on his way to a toy store. Galleytrot padded beside him, tongue lolling out, Sassafras perched on his wide back. I almost told him to get down, but just rolled my eyes.This town was weird on its own. A silver Persian riding a giant black dog wasn't going to be news.And Charlotte? Well, she was Charlotte. Chatty Cathy, that one.Naturally, when we piled into the van waiting in my driveway, I was stuck driving. Not that I minded. I liked to drive. But there were too many of us to fit in a normal-sized car, so I was forced to take the family minivan.Yup, really cool, Syd.I still missed Minnie, my turquoise and white Mini Cooper, cursing the Dumont brothers, Jean Marc and Kristophe, under my breath yet again at the memory of my exploding car. Jerktards. While their attempt to kill me had failed, thanks to Charlotte's timely arrival,
Liam was gone like a shot down the stairs, yet again leaving us to follow. But this time he was slowed by the writing on the walls of the narrow flight, twisting back and forth from one side to another, cries of joy and exclamation bursting from him, kind of like this:"Mesopotamia! Holy, can't be, how cool is-Egypt! The pyramids are what? Now I have to go to-Greece. Yes, of course. Of course! Why didn't I guess that might be the-Rome? No, really? All of Rome? How did they control the flow of-"He stopped below me, hand hovering over the wall, and when he turned to face me there was so much sadness in his eyes I descended to share his step and hug him while he shook."So sad," he whispered. "The Dark Ages."Ouch. Not a great time for those with magic. "The Inquisition?" All witches knew about the Spanish Inquisition, their unholy need to eradicate all of us from the face of the earth, only to ultimately fail because we were simply too smart for them."It wasn't what we thought," Liam s
-I'm in the dream again, watching the two armies face off, the ghostly specter of the maji woman hovering next to me. Only now the battle has engaged, power slashing between combatants, death and life coming together in a mix of screams and the discharge of opposing magicks.I want to help, reaching for them, but the maji holds me back.Iepa. I turn to her, see her face more clearly with contact, and know I'm right, it is she, the author of Liam's book, who has brought us together, to this place, with purpose. I have to stop it.You will have your chance. Her voice is liquid in my mind, gentle and soft. I hope. But not in this moment, Sydlynn. This is but an image of what could be, a possible future. If we were to go elsewhere in this place, you would see far different outcomes than this one. And yet, the possibility of its coming to pass is enough to bring us worry.Us. I turn back to the battle, heart pounding. The maji.She doesn't answer, just watches with me for a moment. Thi
I turned without a word and retreated, climbing the stairs, letting my fingers run over the carvings as I did, feeling my bodywere close on my heels, the press and warmth of Sassy's furred shape against my leg as we emerged in the chamber above.Time for me to be going. Now that the vampires were awake, it was probably a good idea for me to make myself scarce, though I was sure Liam and Galleytrot would be here for a while yet.My mind returned to the two kids and Iepa's warning as I emerged into the main house level and walked the hall toward the front door, head down, eyes locked on the carpet, mind far away. I needed to figure out a way to find the pair, but I had no idea how.Arms slid around me and since Charlotte didn't protest I assumed I knew the owner of those arms. I hugged Sunny back immediately, feeling the warmth of her, thankful she at least had eaten before I ran into her and wondered if hunger for blood made Sebastian's problem with me worse. It was much more likely
It was a short trip across the park and to the back yard, but I worried the entire time. Despite being careful, I didn't want to be caught by a normal while levitating the two kids now in my charge. I could have used the veil, but I hesitated in taking them into it so soon after the attack. Besides, the wards on the house and surrounding property wouldn't let me ride the veil all the way to the back door anyway, so I figured a little quasi-illegal magic use was worth the risk.As luck would have it, not too many people were out an about in the middle of the night in Wilding Springs. None, actually. Only me. Surprise, surprise. Oh, and my very anxious bodywere and demon cat who both came bounding across the grass toward me as I crossed the wards and entered the family property.Charlotte looked very unhappy. And when the weregirl showed her emotions, it was all kinds of bad. Sassafras stopped in his tracks at the sight of the boy and girl, wrapped in glowing blue magic, floating besid