04 Shadow Blood - Witch Fairy (11 page)

“May I ask why you are flopping about?”

“I’m trying to burn the poison out of my body.”

“Is there a particular reason you are not using your wings to cleanse yourself of the toxin?”

What?!  “I can do that?”

She laughs.  Her laugh kind of sounds more like cackling.  “Yes, you can.”

That would have been nice to know five minutes ago.  Now, if I only knew how to call my wings.  Here, wings.  Come here, wings.  I need your help, wings.  Please, wings?  I’m in trouble and I need your help, wings.  Stupid wings.  “They won’t come.  How do I get them to come?”

“I am afraid you are unique that your wings are not constantly with you.  I can be of no assistance in that regard.”

Angels are a lot less helpful than I thought they’d be.  Clearing my mind as much as I can with it turning into jelly and all, I focus on having my wings on my back.  I want them there right now.  This is not a debate. 
Now
.

The pinches on my back are the first clue they have arrived.  The second is that I am suddenly several inches off the ground as they appear underneath me.  The third sign is the whoosh of a searing pain and if feels like all the blood in my body is suddenly on its way to my upper back.  And then the pain is gone.  All of it.

Slowly opening my eyes to determine if the pain stopped because it finally killed me, or if possibly my wings actually did save me, I see Rashnu standing above me smiling.  I sit up slowly as my wings fan out a bit.

“Look,” she says, pointing to my left wing.

I spread the wing out farther and I can see that one of the feathers on the top of my wing is now pure black instead of white.  “Why is it like that?” I ask.

“Because it has taken your burden from you.  It will soon shrivel and fall.”

“Oh, will that hurt?”

Again, the cackling laugh.  “No, it will not.  It will take quite some time before the feather is replaced, though.”

“So, anytime I get poisoned, I can call my wings and have them suck it out of me?”

Her eyebrows crawl up her forehead.  “Do you plan to be poisoned often?”

I shrug.  “It’s been a rough month.”

More cackling.  “You are certainly entertaining.”

“Um, don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the tip about my wings, but if you’re not mad, why are you here?”           

“A complicated question,” she says as she walks among the people in the room who look like statues.  “As you know, some information may only be discussed freely among Angels.  And as Adriel pointed out, you are not a full Angel.”

“You heard that?”

She smiles broadly.  “She was correct when she said that I see everything involving death.”

“So, you know what the Angels of Death are doing all the time?”  That’s kind of creepy for them.

She nods.  “A burden I bear, yes.”

I have a lot more sympathy for Adriel now.  “Are you saying that there’s something I should know but you can’t tell me?”

Her smile widens.  “Indeed, I am.”

Have I mentioned that Angels drive me crazy?  Apparently, I come from a long line of cryptic speakers.  My father’s DNA must have squashed that gene in me because I am definitely the opposite of cryptic.  I tend to say too much.  Often.

“I assume it has something to do with what happened here.”

“You assume correctly.”

“Is Tabbris really that scary that you are all so afraid of her?”  Tabbris is the Angel of Free Will and she doesn’t like it when Angels give out too much information.

She stops and looks directly at me. “Yes.”

Okay, then.  I don’t think I want to know any more about that.  “What
can
you tell me?”

“I am afraid I may only say this:  All is not as it seems here.  Do not take things at face value as you almost did with your young friend here.  Look deeper than the obvious and believe in the impossible.”

“Um, can you give me any more than that?”

She shakes her head and her beautiful, silvery blonde hair sparkles in the light.  It’s hard to believe she turns into one of the scariest monsters I’ve ever seen when she gets mad. “No.  Your subconscious mind will guide you.  Follow your instincts.”

Okay, I’m going to put that in the ‘I haven’t the foggiest idea of what that means’ pile.  Pretty soon, I’m going to have to start calling it a mountain.  “Okay.”  What else is there to say?

Apparently, she’s fine with that response because she’s smiling again.  “You did a good thing here tonight.  I deem your actions appropriate for the situation.”

Good lord, she
was
here to judge me!  My voice is a little shaky when I say, “Thank you.”

There’s that cackle again.  “You have nothing to fear from me, Xandra.  I will not be judging your mortal soul for a very, very long time.”

“Is that a long time in Angel years, Fairy years, or Witch years?”

She shakes her finger at me as her grin widens.  “Uh uh, Tabbris would have my wings if I answered that question.”

“She can take your wings?”  Wow, that would suck for an Angel, I bet.

“She can and does without mercy when rules are broken.”

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”

Her cackle sounds a little bit like a giggle this time.  A little.  “I am sure you will.”  She puts her hand to her lips and she blows me a kiss.  I am suddenly back in my own time.

Chapter 11

You’d think by now it wouldn’t be shocking when one second I’m writhing in pain and the next, I’m standing up with wings on my back.  But, it seems it still is.  At least, that’s what the gasping around the room tells me.  Kallen doesn’t look quite as surprised as the others, but this is the second time in half an hour he’s seen me disappear and reappear somewhere else.

Alita is sitting up now, leaning heavily against Kegan.  She looks terrible but her breathing seems to be fine.  Smiling up at me weakly, she says, “I am sorry I could not do more to save him.”

I kneel down next to her and take her hands in mine.  “I’m sure you tried your best.”  Okay, I’m feeling super guilty now about suspecting her.  “What happened?”

She looks down at her pale blue sarong and picks at an imaginary piece of lint on it.  “I had gone down to the kitchen to make some tea and came back upstairs to read more.  The tea tasted a little bitter, but I assumed I simply had not put enough sugar in it.  After several sips, I began to feel weak and dizzy.  My eyes would not focus.  I vaguely remember someone picking me up off the floor and carrying me in here.  I could not see the person’s face, it was covered I believe.  I saw your brother lying on the floor with blood around him.  I remember nothing after that.”  She bows her head and her short, black hair nearly covers her face.

I give her hands a squeeze.  “Zac’s fine and there was nothing you could have done to prevent this.  But, you’re saying that
you
made the tea that had the poison in it?”  Does that mean that the poison was meant to kill anyone who drank tea?  Meaning, everyone in the house?  I give a quick glance in Isla’s direction.  Her face is hardening and her eyes have become angry little green slits. 

Alita looks up at me.  “Yes, I made it.”  She looks at Tabitha.  “It was the tea from the green jar.”  Tabitha has several ceramic jars in which she stores the various assortments of teas that she makes from spices and flowers out of her garden.

Tabitha nods curtly.  “I will see to its disposal.”  She looks to Isla and some silent communication occurs between them before Tabitha leaves the room to find the poisonous tea.

“Kegan, please help Alita back to her room.  Kallen, I would like you to accompany me as I search the house and grounds.”

“What can I do?” I ask, rising to my feet as Kegan steps over to help Alita up.

Isla appraises me a moment.  “I believe that your wings will be better kept inside at the moment.  Perhaps your place is here, with your parents and brother.  I fear that Zac was not the only target.”  She gives me a meaningful look.

Me.  Someone wants to kill me and doesn’t care who they take out with me.  Hmm.  That’s not quite clicking into place in my mind.  “Why go after Zac and frame Alita if I’m the target?”

Mom leaves her spot by Zac and floats over to me.  She places a cold, transparent hand on my shoulder.  “It could be that whoever this is wants to hurt you as much as possible before coming after you directly.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could reboot your life like you can a computer?  If something’s not running right, just shut it down and start over.  With my life, I think I need virus protection as well. 

I sigh heavily.  “I guess that makes sense.”  So, the only thing left to do now is get really, really angry.  Oh, yeah, I’ve already done that.  In frustration, I flop myself down on the floor next to Zac.  “I’ll be here if you guys need help.”

Kallen kneels down in front of me and holds my face between his hands.  “We will find who did this,” he says and the tone of his voice makes me believe him. 

I smile weakly at him.  “I know.”

He leans in and gives me a sweet, light kiss.  “I will be back soon.”  I nod and he and Isla disappear out the door.  Kegan and Alita have already gone back to her room.  It’s just my parents, my brother and me now.  Aunt Barb never woke up through the commotion.  That’s not surprising; her room is on the other end of the corridor.  I’m glad she was able to sleep through it.  She’s been through enough.

“Xandra, you haven’t had a chance to tell us what happened to you,” Mom says quietly, as she encourages Zac to get up off the floor and move to the bed.  Poor thing, he looks exhausted.

I guess with the poison craziness, I did forget.  I sit down on the corner of the bed and tell my parents about Adriel and Rashu.  I finish by telling them about how my wing drew the poison out of me.  I turn to point to the black feather that is even smaller and more shriveled than it was.  As I watch, it falls from my wing and gently floats to the floor.  It leaves an amazingly large area on the top of my wing exposed.  Other feathers around it must have been affected as well.  Looking back at the floor where I was, I see several smaller black feathers that must have been hidden under the larger one.

“Thank god you’re part Angel,” Dad says, shaking his head.  “I wish your life could go back to normal.”

“You and me both,” I grumble under my breath.  Out loud, I say, “It’s okay, Dad.  Things have to calm down eventually.”  Right?  Please?

He joins me on the bed and puts his arm around my shoulders.  I don’t even mind the cold.  A little comfort from my parents is nice right now, even if I end up with frostbite.  “If I could carry this burden for you, I would.”

I smile up at him.  “I know you would.”

Zac crawls over to me and he puts his arm around me, too.  “I don’t think I want my life to be as exciting as yours anymore.”

I laugh as I put my arm around his little shoulders.  “That’s too bad.  I was planning to switch lives with you any day now.”

“Okay,” he says with a gleam in his eye.  His near death experience suddenly forgotten.

I shake my head.  “Sorry, even if you were the worst brother in the world, I wouldn’t trade.  It wouldn’t be fair.”

“There’s
some
cool things about having magic, right?”

I think about it a minute.  “Yeah, I guess there are.”

“And you can fly.”  He touches my wing softly.

I shrug.  “Not really.  It’d probably freak people out, so I have to keep my wings to myself.”

“You can kick butt with your magic.”

“Zac,” Mom admonishes. 

“But, she can!”

I laugh and ruffle his hair.  “Yes, I can.  I guess that’s pretty cool.”

“Zac, I’d like you to lie down now,” Mom says.  I can tell she’s frustrated that she can’t comfort him like I am.  I still feel guilty for making her let his spirit go earlier.

Zac looks up at me with his big blue eyes.  “Will you stay and make sure no one hits me again?”

From laughter to tears in an eighth of a millisecond.  “Yes.”  I hug him close, wishing I never had to let him out of my sight again.

Scooting to the head of the bed, I lay next to him while Mom sings the lullabies she used to sing to me when I was little.  It doesn’t take long for my lids to get as heavy as Zac’s.  I think I might have fallen asleep first.

Sometime later, I hear Kallen talking softly to my parents.  “Nothing was amiss.  Grandmother and I searched the house and grounds thoroughly.  Whoever did this left no trace of themselves.”

“Was it done by magic?” Dad asks.

“No,” Kallen says.  “There would have been traces of magic left even if there was a Fairy with the power to do it.  Grandmother or I would have been able to sense it.”

“Are you saying that someone walked in this house with none of us the wiser and put poison in a jar of tea?  That seems impossible,” Mom says.  There’s more worry in her voice than reproach.

“We were preoccupied for a day in a half as we waited in our circles for Xandra to return.”

“Except for us, who should have known,” Mom says.  It’s hard to miss the defensiveness in her voice.

“I did not mean to imply…”

“Of course,” Dad says briskly.  “Julienne, we’re all on the same side here.”

“Yes, you’re right.”

Changing the subject, Kallen asks, “Shall I leave her here with you for the evening?”

“No, I think she’d be more comfortable in her own room,” Dad says.

I should argue, because I told Zac that I’d stay with him, but as Kallen lifts me into his muscular arms, the words get lost as I snuggle into his firm chest.  It only takes a moment for him to carry me the short distance down the hall to my room.  He lays me on the bed and I feel silk against my skin as pajamas replace my sundress.  As soon as my head hits the pillow, I am out again.