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Page 7

 

  “Not a good idea to have around so many flammable items,” Kaylin said. “But the blankets are piled high like they were last night and the stone warmers should help take the edge off. ”

  And with that, we entered the shrouded room.

  I made sure the door was closed before we tucked the warmers under the covers and changed for the night. We were relieved to have nightclothes again. The past couple of nights, we’d slept in our jeans and sweatshirts. While upstairs at the Veil House, Kaylin had managed to scavenge enough clothing to provide each of us with several changes of jeans, shirts, along with underwear, nightgowns, and robes. He’d also scrounged up a few more personal items that we might need and for that, I blessed his heart. I was PMSing like crazy and cracked open the ibuprofen after I slid into the comfy flannel gown.

  The room was set up with a bunch of old cushions serving as one big bed. The four of us women could easily fit on the makeshift mattress. A half bath to the left offered a working toilet and sink. I longed for a toothbrush, but for now the tube of toothpaste Kaylin had found, and our fingers, would have to do. If we did make a supply run, we were laying in a supply of toothbrushes.

  After we changed and washed up as best as we could, lingering under the hot water as it splashed across our hands, we slid beneath the covers, our heads together in the center.

  “Do you think we can win? Do you really think we can take down Myst?” Rhiannon said after a moment.

  “Dark thoughts aren’t the best thing to discuss before bedtime. ” I must have sounded a little too harsh because Rhia looked hurt. Relenting, I burrowed under the covers as far as I could and added, “I don’t know, but we’ll try. If we can get hold of Lainule’s heartstone, we’ll stand a better chance. ”

  Peyton sounded strained. “I wonder what my father will be like. You know what it’s like, Cicely—never to know your father. How do you feel now that you’ve met him?”

  I thought about her question before answering. “Honestly? Relieved that he wasn’t some freak. That he wasn’t a junkie. Given Krystal’s addictions, there was no way to tell. It’s odd, because my birth was planned by Lainule and Wrath. Krystal was a tool. A pawn to bring me back into this world. I can’t help but wonder if Wrath cared about her. He…he’s so far beyond what my mother could ever have hoped to be. Or anyone she could hope to be with. ”

  Ever since finding out he was my father I’d played out a dozen scenarios in my head about how they met. Maybe she was out in the woods, walking, and he showed up out of nowhere and stole her breath away. Maybe he snuck into her room in bird form and then, like a prince out of a Faerie tale, turned into the handsome king, promising to take away her worries. Maybe…maybe I’d never know, and maybe that was best.

  Peyton sniffled. “I used to imagine that Rex had to be dead. Otherwise, surely he would have come back to find me, to find out if we were okay. I couldn’t let myself believe that he was alive and happy, knowing that he’d left behind a daughter who never got to know him. ”

  Rhiannon murmured in soft agreement. “I’m still in the dark about my father. I have no clue who he was, or what I am. I’m just…a woman who once killed a little girl with my fire, and my mother is a vampire, working for an evil queen. ” She sounded lost and frightened.

  “Are you thinking about Leo?” I sat up, gathering the covers around me to wrap them tight against the cold.

  Rhia let out a forced laugh as she scooted over next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. “Leo? I don’t know if I ever really knew him. I thought I did, but now I think…I was in love with the idea of being in love. Or maybe I loved the man I thought he was, but in reality it was a sham. He let me believe he was who I wanted him to be. Not once did he ever tell me he was interested in being a vampire. ”

  I hated sticking up for the scum, but there was a part of Leo that I understood. The all-too human side. “He probably knew how you felt. He wanted you to love him and said the right things, made the right moves…Don’t we all do that at times?” I paused, wondering whether I should ask the next question. But since we were having an impromptu girls’ night, I decided to go ahead. “And what about Chatter? Did you ever talk to Leo about him?”

  She shook her head. “No, never. ”

  “But you thought about him. ”

  Rhiannon let out a soft sigh. “I met Chatter in the woods a few times when I was a teenager—I don’t think Grieve knew, we kept it secret. But I couldn’t believe we had a chance. ” She looked up at me. “I don’t think I’ve ever loved anybody else. And I always remembered him. How caring he was, how gentle, how I trusted him and he never let me down. He gave me my first kiss, out there in the woods, when I was fifteen. But I couldn’t tell him about the little girl. I was too ashamed. I thought he’d hate me, so I never went back again. ”

  Luna had been listening to us, watching us in the dim light of the twenty-five-watt exposed bulb that lit our chamber. She pushed herself to sitting, too, huddling under the covers. “I listen to all of you and I think how lucky I had it. My family loves me, even if they don’t understand me. I’ve never had a great love, but I’ve never had great loss, either. I’ve only sung about it. I guess I’ve lived vicariously through my music. ”

  I reached over and took her hand. “You are holding up remarkably well. And we’re grateful—and glad—you’re here. ”

  She crossed her legs. “It’s nearly midnight. I should call Zoey. It’s morning where she’s at. ”

  “Where are the Akazzani located?” Peyton asked.

  Luna shook her head. “I can’t tell you that. I don’t even know myself. But I do know the time zone difference. It’s midmorning where she is. ”

  “Go ahead. I don’t think we should keep this secret any longer. Myst is determined to spread her contagion. If we don’t survive, someone outside of New Forest should know what’s going on. That’s why we’re going to the Consortium, too. ” It was time to spread the word. If Lainule was right, Myst had other cells of the Vampiric Fae scattered around the world.

  Luna moved to a quieter spot in the room and flipped open her cell phone. Not wanting to make her any more uncomfortable than she might already be about asking for her sister’s help, I turned to Peyton.

  “Did your father say when he was going to be here?”

  “Around eight or nine. ” She rested her chin on her knees. “I really don’t know what to expect, so I’m trying to expect nothing. ”

  I stared at my feet, poking up under the covers, and wiggled my toes against the cherry stone warmer. It was toasty, and I tried to relax into the warmth and coax it up my body.

  “This is just too bizarre. It feels like a million miles and a thousand years since I left La La land to return home, but in less than two weeks…everything I ever thought was true has been turned upside down. To say I feel lost is an understatement. ”

  Rhiannon nodded. “I’ve been getting used to the weirdness over the years, I guess. My mother…she kept track of the odd events going on. But now…” She pushed back a long strand of the coppery red hair that hung down her back.

  My cousin and I were fire and ice. I had hair as black as the night, sleek and hanging straight just past my shoulders. My eyes were emerald, and I now realized their color came from my father. At five feet, four inches, and 140 stocky, athletic, curvy pounds, I was a fireball of muscle. Rhiannon was taller and willowy, lithe like a dancer, with long curling red hair and hazel eyes. She was the spitting image of Heather.

  Aunt Heather used to call us amber and jet when we were little. But we called ourselves twins. We were born on the same day, on the summer solstice—Rhiannon under the sun, during the waxing half of the year, and me under the moonlight, after the year switched over to waning. We were twenty-six now, and I wondered if we’d make it to our next birthday.

  “I promise you, we will put her to rest. ” It felt horrible to say, but I knew the fact that Heathe
r was now a vampire weighed heavily on her mind.

  She nodded to me, her face a frozen mask. I wondered what she was thinking, but she chose to remain silent, scooting over to me. I lifted up my covers and let her slide beneath them. We pulled her blanket over the top of mine and the added warmth felt good. I wrapped my arm around her and she rested her head on my shoulder.

  Luna returned then. “Zoey will be here as soon as she can. She’s breaking a lot of rules to help us, but she thinks there are some more texts hidden away and she’ll sneak out what she can. She said she can get away in a couple of days. I didn’t ask how. I got the feeling it’s another one of those things I’m not supposed to know about. ”

  As she crawled back under her covers, shivering in the chill night air, I glanced at the clock on the wall. “We’re well past the witching hour. We should get some sleep. And pray that tomorrow we start sorting out this mess. At least Lannan will be all beddy-bye then and I won’t have to deal with him. Honestly, if he were human, I’d slap him with a lawsuit for stalking. ”

  Peyton barked out a sharp laugh as Rhiannon and I snuggled down under our blankets, holding hands like we had when we were children. I hoped there were no spiders or rats around, but the long weariness of the day, the fear of returning to the Veil House—it all compounded to summon me into sleep.

  As the soft sounds of Luna’s and Peyton’s breath came whistling by on the slipstream, Ulean swept around my cousin and me, a gentle shroud of protective energy.

  Thank you. I’m afraid.

  Ulean whispered gently next to my ear. There is much to fear in the dark. There are monsters under the bed and in the closet, and now they walk abroad at will. But there is life here, and hope. I sense change on the wind. Others will offer help. As with Lannan, do not write them off simply because you dislike them.

  Her voice—I say her loosely because Elementals truly have no gender—trilled lightly in my ears, blowing around me like a soft billowing cloud. I sank into her cadence, letting her words lull my mind.

  “Cicely, sleep deep. Dream of the paths that are ruled by the Summer. Follow the sparkling lights, for they have much to teach you. ”

  Unable to tell whether it was my father’s voice or Ulean’s, or perhaps both in harmony, I finally let go of consciousness and slid into a slumber so hard and deep that it felt like I was melting into the earth.

  Chapter 4

  The path stretched out before me like a golden dream. Summer had come again, and I breathed in the warmth of the day as the drifting light rippled through the air. Reaching out, I caught a sunbeam, holding the yellow prism in the palm of my hand, close to my heart like a precious treasure. The drowsy sounds of bees lighting from flower to flower and the shriek of the Stellar’s jays echoed around me. As I closed my eyes for a moment, the safety of summer washed over me like a cleansing wave.

  The prism radiated heat through my hand. As I gazed into the brilliant gem, I saw Rhiannon, standing brilliant and tall and terrifying. Older than now, but still unmarred by time, she looked far stronger than I’d ever seen her and her expression was set, determined and fierce. She was cloaked in a velvet green dress, and she held out her hand toward me—and from the palm sprang sparks, flaring into flames dancing on her skin.

  “Cousin,” she whispered. “My moon-born twin. I need to wake up. You need to wake me up from my dark night’s dream. ”

  As I watched, transfixed by her image, Chatter stepped up behind her, wearing the green of summer, and he placed his hands on her shoulders. He leaned down to kiss her, and as I watched, the flames in her hand danced with joy, and the light around them grew so bright I had to look away.

  The next moment, I was back on the path, heading into the woods. As I came to a huge, spreading cedar tree, I thought I recognized it but couldn’t place where I’d seen it before. And then Ulean rushed around me, dancing, and I could feel her joy in the whirl of leaves that went sailing around me.

  Summer is rising again. Summer will not be lost…

  I looked around for Lainule, but couldn’t see her. As I closed my eyes, letting the warmth rush around me like a welcoming shroud, something tapped me on the shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw a green light, floating in front of my eyes. A pale ball of energy, it bounced at eye level, then floated over to the roots of the tree. I followed, Ulean guarding my back.

  I knelt and parted the fronds of the maidenhair ferns that surrounded the trunk, and a deep reverberation chimed from the base of the tree. It began with a faint thunder, echoing the beating of my heart, but then slowly began to rise. I cleared the ground directly in front of the cedar’s trunk. A trapdoor emerged. It reminded me of the one hiding the tunnel through which we’d journeyed to visit the Bat People.

  A bronze handle glimmered, and the bubble of light gently rested on it.

  “You want me to open this?”

  The light bounced once…twice.

  I reached out and the light moved to the side. As I grasped the handle, a shiver raced through my fingers, up my wrist and arm. I looked in, and there was a vortex of color, a whirlwind of green and gold and brilliant red. The spinning colors caught me up and sucked me in, and I began to fall, the ground disappearing beneath me. As I careened downward, I knew that I was on the right path…I was heading toward salvation and hope, and for the first time since I’d arrived home, the shadow of Myst could not follow me.

  Cicely, wake—time to wake up. Ulean’s breath hit my face and I woke to the gentle touch of her breezes gliding across me.

  Squinting in the dim light, I pushed myself to a sitting position and shivered. Disoriented, I looked around, confused. It had been a dream—only a dream, yet I looked at my hand in which I’d been holding the imprisoned fire, and it was warm, almost glowing. As I yawned and glanced at the clock—it was six A. M. —Rhiannon stirred and rolled up, leaning on one arm. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand and shook her head.