Authors: Quinn Loftis
She took Jewel’s hand and wasn’t surprised to find it
soft and warm, unlike her own that were rough from being washed constantly because of clearing nasty tables and washing dirty dishes day after day. “What do I need to do?” She asked her.
“Close your eyes and picture yourself opening a door in your
mind.” Jewel waited until Kara complied. “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly and picture yourself walking through that door into the forest, but as you cross through speak these words in your mind;
reveal the truth, remove the lies, unbind the light inside of me to shine through the darkness.
Then open your eyes and tell me what you see.”
Kara did exactly as Jewel told her, and because she truly wanted to know what was
happening, what she had been literally snatched into, she believed for just a minute that anything was truly possible.
Reveal the truth, remove the lies, unbind the light inside of me to shine through the darkness,
Kara chanted to herself as she pictured a white door opening before her. She lifted her foot to step over the threshold but the second her foot was beyond the threshold, she nearly jerked it back. Before she even saw it, she felt it, her skin crawled and she gritted her teeth forcing herself the rest of the way.
She opened her eyes once fully through the door, just as Jewel had instr
ucted and she could see it. Black ooze dripped from the trees burning holes into the leaves that it touched, and grey fog rippled through branches and under bushes. A pungent odor rushed into her nose causing her face to scrunch up as though she’d sucked on a lemon.
“This is what you have been seeing the whole time we’ve been trekking along?” Kara stumbled over her words a bit as she continued to inspect
the seemingly changed forest around her.
“No, not the entire time.
I only see it that way when I open myself up. You can keep the door closed, so to speak, so that you aren’t bombarded with the nastiness of this place. So, do you believe me now?” Jewel’s eyes narrowed on the former waitress.
“I have to admit that your argument coupled with t
he evidence is quite convincing,” Kara admitted.
“What are you
, pre-law?”
Kara let out a snort of laughter. “First of all, how old
do you think I am? And second, the lady I live with is obsessed with crime shows and Judge Judy.”
“Would you like to close this off,” Jewel offered, “before we continue to chat?”
Kara nodded and closed her eyes once again. She took hold of Jewel’s hand and pictured the door. As she pushed it open and stepped back through she let out a breath and with it all of the nastiness that she had breathed in.
When she opened her eyes she was once again in the forest that
, though still dark and uninviting, no longer dripped with black nasty stuff or had rippling fog that was seriously just wrong in so many ways. Somehow this version felt much less threatening.
“Now,” Jewel interrupted Kara’s
thought of,
thank goodness I’m back in the tad bit less evil forest
, moment. “Your disposition indicates that you are eighteen or nineteen. Your appearance, however, does look a little younger than that. The way your eyes narrow like a hawk’s and dart around, constantly watching your environment reveals a much older soul and one who has seen too much for her few years.” Jewel clucked her tongue as she examined Kara and then said, “I’m going to go with sixteen or seventeen.”
“You’re good,” Kara
smiled but it did not meet her hawk like eyes. “I’m sixteen going on fifty.”
“I’m seventeen
,” Jewel divulged as her eyes drifted up and her lips pressed together.
“The
re’s nothing wrong with being seventeen.” Kara grinned.
“Maybe not but it’s just so, so
…,” Jewel stammered. “Mundane, that’s what it is. I mean it isn’t sixteen which is supposed to be sweet, and it isn’t eighteen which is supposed to be the coming of age, leaving your childish ways behind you to become a mature woman.”
“Maturity is overrated,” Kara grumbled having experienced firsthand that sometimes maturity comes much too soon to the
innocent.
“Maybe for those who have had it thrust upon them,” Jewel said knowingly. “I’ve seen things in my short little life that most will never see, but I imagine from the haunted look in your eyes I’ve never seen what you have.”
Kara pushed away from the tree deciding that the conversation was veering in a direction she did not want to go. Her past was her past and she wouldn’t use it to gain sympathy or pity.
“So if we’re going to find this higher ground to se
e if we can get out of this cesspool we should probably keep keeping on.” She motioned for Jewel to once again take point and began to follow her. “So what do you think Lorelle wants with us anyways?” Kara asked.
“Probably to hook us to some machine and suck the power from our bodies until all that is left is flesh withered like a dried up prune.” Jewel’s tone was so straight forward that Kara didn’t know whether to believe her or not.
“Uh, are you being for real right now or is that something you read in one of your books?”
“Nope, saw it on the Princess Bride, only
Westley, that’s the guy who got captured and attached to a machine, was having his lives sucked from his body, not power.”
Kara cleared her throat. “Okay, but are you insinuating that based on a movie, our outcome could be the same?”
Jewel turned back to look at Kara with a mischievous smile and gleam in her eyes that showed a slightly different side to the studious girl. “Rule number one when dealing with smart people, do not believe everything they say. In fact believe only half of it and consider the rest dressed up with big words that are meant to keep you from understanding what part is truth and what part is not.”
“So you’re saying I shouldn’t believe anything you say?” Kara asked attempting to clarify Jewe
l’s statement all the while wondering if what had just happened indeed had been some mind trick.
“No
, I said smart people, I said nothing about dealing with geniuses.”
“Modest much,” Kara mumbled.
“Confident,” Jewel corrected. “I may have grown up with a crystal ball reading, tarot card shuffling, scry throwing eccentric lady, and maybe sometimes I’m ashamed of how weird people considered her and consequently me. But having knowledge and exhibiting the ability to use it, not just obtain it, now that is something I
can
be proud of.”
Kara said nothing in response to Jewel
’s passionate explanation. What could she say? I’m proud to be an orphan, or waitress. Nope, that wasn’t going to fly, which was exactly why it was hard to believe that she, Kara Jones, could possibly be special in any way particularly a magical one.
∞
Lorelle followed the two healers, unseen through the forest, listening and observing the girls. She had definitely been surprised at what the one called Jewel had revealed. She had not let on in any way to Lorelle that she knew what she was or what was happening. That was one she would have to watch.
It’s always the quiet, smart ones,
she thought.
Just as they rounded a corner she stepped out from the trees directly in their path
, so close that Jewel nearly ran right into her chest.
“Is it possible that maybe you could put up a
fae crossing
sign so we are better prepared for the sudden appearance?” Kara asked as she stepped up next to Jewel.
“So you’ve decided you believe in all of this then?”
Lorelle asked raising a thin, perfect eyebrow at her.
“I’m getting there.” Kara shrugged.
Lorelle studied them, looking past the human covering to the gypsy magic inside. Jewel was slightly more powerful than Kara, but she suspected it was because Jewel had been exposed to magic her whole life. Decision made, she grabbed Kara’s arm moving as quick as a viper strikes.
“Well
, lucky you, I have something that will completely convince your little mind that everything your intelligent gypsy sister told you is indeed true.”
Before
Lorelle flashed, she heard Kara tell Jewel, “I guess I’m about to find out if there is a magic sucking machine or not.”
Lorelle
rolled her eyes at the healer as she flashed them back to Volcan’s mansion. She laid the girl on the table in the large dining hall as he had instructed her and put a binding spell on her. Lorelle could tell the moment Kara realized she couldn’t move, her eyes took on that deer in headlights look and the vein in her neck began to pulse as her heart sped up. Lorelle had also put a
hold your tongue
spell on her because frankly she was tired of listening to the incessant chatter.
She felt Volcan’s presence enter the room and her back immediately went rigid.
A strange screeching sound began to rise and Lorelle realized it was coming from a very frightened Kara. Her eyes were looking around wildly, like a cornered animal searching for a way out. She must sense Volcan, Lorelle decided, or maybe he was speaking to her in her mind, it was quite the open book after all. She was the youngest of the healers, and her lack of knowledge made her vulnerable to intrusion from other magical beings.
“Is the other one as powerful?” Volcan’s voice graded like sandpaper across her nerves.
“Even more so,” Lorelle told him, when she wanted to say
I’m not a freaking idiot, you told me to bring the weaker of the two and looky-there that’s what I did
. She once again held her tongue, just barely.
“She knows nothing of her heritage, of her abilities,” Volcan said as if
Lorelle didn’t already know.
“Correct.”
“She will not be able to heal herself and I’m not ready for her to die just yet. What of the other one,” he snapped. “Is she aware of her power?”
She nodded. “To an extent she is.”
“Bring her. She will keep this one alive.” Volcan waved her off like a common servant.
Lorelle
flashed herself to the power and energy she knew to be Jewel’s. The girl led her there like a beacon and didn’t even know it.
Jewels eyes widened at
Lorelle’s once again sudden appearance.
“Hope yo
u learn as fast as you claim to, little healer,” Lorelle muttered as she snatched the girl and returned to Volcan.
“
You know how you believe that you’re too powerful for anyone or thing to be able to touch you? No? Okay let me briefly explain. I am one such as that. Powerful, cunning, vigilant, never defeated―until I was. And let me tell you, it freaking sucked.” ~Peri
“The first wise
crack Costin makes I swear I’m turning him into a rock and tossing him into a lake,” Peri grumbled as she and Lucian finished dressing. The morning had come much too fast and with it the painful reminder of what was before them.
First
, she had to face the wolves, literally, and her two comrades, and three clueless healers after completing the bonding and Blood Rites with Lucian. She imagined this is what new brides felt like when it was customary for the newly married couple to live with her parents for a time. It just wasn’t right. Nobody should have to look in the eyes of people they truly knew after a night like that, especially if said people had already experienced a night like that.
“The blush on your pale skin is lovely,” Lucian purred.
“Just because you’re my mate doesn’t mean I won’t turn you into something unsavory,” she warned.
“Maybe,” his voice dropped even lower. “But I’ve no doubt you would not leave me in such a state for long, not after
…,”
Peri put her hand over his perfect lips stopping his words. “I get
it; you are the only one truly exempt from my wrath blah, blah, blah. Try not to gloat, okay?”
“I would
not dare,” he smiled and it was one that he gave only to her. Peri took his offered hand and followed him from the room, all the while hearing the drums of her impending doom. It was worse than even she could have imagined.
They entered the kitchen that was clamoring with people moving to and fro.
Suddenly they all stopped as though it had been choreographed and turned to look at the pair. Grins that Peri swore would split their googlie-eyed faces in half, spread across the lips of all, save the new healers who just looked as clueless as ever, as the group gawked at them.
“Really
, is this necessary?” Peri attempted for calm but she was pretty sure her voice trembled as she said it.
“Welcome to the group,” Costin grinned at Lucian.
Lucian’s head did the wolf tilt thing as he looked back at the younger wolf. “What group?”
“M squared, W squared, A,” Costin said a little too proudly.
Sally’s head dropped forward as she groaned. “I have got to stop letting you hang out with that female Serbia Alpha.”
Lucian stilled looked confused so
Costin added. “Mated Male Werewolves Anonymous.”
Adam reached over and knocked fists with Costin as he laughed. “Good one.”
“You do realize that doesn’t make sense because werewolves is one word right?” Crina pointed out.
“Technicality.” Adam winked at his mate.
“What is it for?” Lucian asked.
“Support
, brother, because let me tell you once the females gang up on you it is game over, bar closed, dog house sleeping, done.”
“Costin
, I’m going to turn you into a rock,” Peri spoke up repeating what she had told Lucian. “And then I’m going to toss you in a lake.”
“Why can’t you turn me into something useful like Sally’s bra or the locket she wears around her neck,” he whined.
Sally gasped and turned several shades of red as she glared at her mate.
“I get the bra thing, but I’m not even going to touch the whole locket thing,” Adam retorted.
“Nestled between the mountains, brother, nestled between the mountains,” Costin beamed like a clever child.
Sally was too speechless to even move but Crina beat her to it. “
Peri you force his phase and then Sally can shave his pelt like one of those labra doodles that the Americans find so cute, then I will put a pretty little bow on his big dumb head.”
Costin pointed to Crina but spoke to Lucian. “See, didn’t tell you? They gang up on you
and you can either run for the sake of your pelt or beg forgiveness like a trained lap dog.”
“What is your choice?” Lucian asked seriously.
Costin gazed at his mate adoringly as he slowly backed out of her reach. “I do so love her lap,” he said in a voice that should not be used in the company of others.
The room erupted into laughter, with even Peri smiling at the fool bartender who was beyond
smitten with his little healer.
Sally was still glaring at Costin when the laughter died down. “This isn’t over
, Costin Miklos.”
“
Oooh I hope not, Sally mine.” He winked roguishly.
Lucian
drew Peri further into the room and pulled a chair out for her to sit in. She took the offered chair without comment, which no doubt surprised the others, and turned to look at the three humans.
“Feeling a little lost?” She asked them. Peri watched as Heather, the tiny blind healer filled with so much spunk she practically floated, turn
ed in her direction.
“From your angle i
t looks like we have been found.”
Peri stared at the girl wondering what made her so brave. She was the oldest of the group but she was also the blindest. “I would think you would be the most frightened of the group considering you don’t have your sight.”
There was a collective indrawn breath in the room. Peri huffed and flicked her hand at them. “It’s not like she doesn’t know she’s blind, good freaking grief.”
“Decorum
, Peri,” Elle spoke up.
“Yeah, I have none,” Peri admitted brazenly.
“I’m not offended,” Heather assured them. “Though I don’t think Peri believes what she is insinuating, that I am helpless because I can’t see what is going on around me. I am probably as perceptive as these people you claim are werewolves.”
“So do you not believe us because you can’t see them?” Crina asked.
Heather’s head turned unfailingly to Crina’s exact location. “I see them, with my ears, my skin, my nose, and the air that I breathe in and taste in my mouth. I do not believe any less because my eyes fail me, I believe less for the same reason the seeing believe less, because such beings are not supposed to exist.”
“What about you two?” Peri motioned to Stella and Anna. “What do you believe?”
“I can’t deny what I’ve seen,” Anna said. “And I can’t deny that I’m intrigued,” she admitted somewhat sheepishly.
Peri nodded
, her lips turned up ever so slightly. Then her piercing gaze fell on Stella and her eyes narrowed. “Can you honestly tell me that you don’t want this to be real, that you haven’t hoped for an escape all of your life?”
Stella’s eyebrows drew together as she crossed her arms in front of her. “You don’t play fair.”
Peri chuckled. “Not very often.”
“What about my brother?” She asked her.
“Is that the only thing holding you back?”
“I want to know he is okay. He will be worried sick about me, and that’s not something I can live with no matter how incredible this all seems.”
Peri let out a resigned breath. She hated dealing with human family members, it was messy and she only did messy on the battlefield. “Your brother has been dealt with.”
Stella jumped out of the chair she had occupied. “What do you mean dealt with, because in the Bronx, dealt with is in no way
reassuring?”
“Good grief girl, sit down,” Peri grumbled. “We didn’t kill him. I have more interesting things to kill than a measly human.”
“Peri, that isn’t reassuring them,” Sally pointed out.
“I’m not trying to reassure them.”
“Okay, good to know,” Sally quipped back.
“His memory has been altered.” Peri held a slender finger up to stop Stella from speaking. “No
, it will not hurt him. Yes, he will be fine. Yes, he still remembers you. No, you cannot tell him or contact him, and yes I’m sure it will not hurt him for the fifteen times that you are bound to ask me.”
Stella’
s lips tightened against her white teeth. “What
does
he remember?”
“Oh
, did I not mention that?” Peri asked dryly.
“Peri
, could you please play nice for once in your life?” Sally whined.
“Uh, excuse me, but I have played nicely once in my life and what did it get me? Three insufferable humans, believe me once was quite enough,” Peri countered.
Looking back at Stella she decided that the truth was best, especially with someone who had endured so many lies in her lifetime. “He thinks you finally did what you’ve always said you would and gone off to college. My magic enables me to make suggestions in the human mind. If those suggestions happen to be ones that the person truly wants, it makes it much easier. Your brother truly wanted you to get out.”
Stella nodded at her, seemingly satisfied for the moment of Peri’s explanation. Peri knew that later, when the girl had more time to think she would once again come demanding more information.
Humans,
she thought,
too damn curious for their own good.
“As for you two,” she looked back at Anna and Heather. “Scenarios that were believable
have been given to those closest to you. Take everything I said to Stella and apply it to your situation because I will not repeat myself; it annoys me to do so.”
“It would be months before my mother even realized I was gone,” Anna admitted.
Peri ran a finger across her chin as she looked at the only one of the girls who looked like a gypsy. “Yes, you had an unusual upbringing. You have always been aware of your heritage.”
Anna nodded. “But that doesn’t mean I believed in the magic my mom claimed we possessed.”
Peri clasped her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. “Okay, to review, we took you because you are gypsy healers. You have an affinity for magic that other humans do not. You are highly important to the Canis lupis race. As we explained, they are werewolves. There are twelve packs all over the world. Some are larger than others. Some are more receptive to the joining of the packs while some are just buttheads. What is important that you know, though you won’t understand it until it happens, is that you each will become members of a pack. You have a true mate, which will be a dominant male, capable of protecting you, one who holds the other half of your soul. These males sometimes live centuries before they find their mate. Some of them are slightly scary, and some are like Costin,” she motioned to Sally’s mate who had his arms wrapped around his still slightly irritated mate with his chin resting on her head.
“What she means is incredibly handsome and fun to be around,” Costin clarified.
“And oh so humble,” Crina added.
“We have explained a little about the fae, which Adam, myself
, and Elle happen to be. I am a high fae, a member of the Council that governs over the fae as well as the supernatural world. Recently, the Great Luna has once again begun assigning fae as ambassadors of sort to each pack. They also serve as a guide to help the healer in the pack learn and grow in power. Typically a healer does not come into her power until she turns eighteen. What we are beginning to realize is as the magic in our world has begun to change so have the rules.
“You three are of age, and though you may not be aware of your powe
r, it is there inside of you, I can see it, the wolves can feel it, and other supernaturals will be able to as well. Healers are sought after, not just by the Canis lupis who wish to protect them, but also by those who would use your powers for evil. That is why you have been brought here. You each have a destiny, but it is not in the human world. If you attempt to run from this destiny you will be endangering your life, and depriving a worthy male the opportunity to be whole, to love you, and to tame the beast inside of him.” Peri stared at the three girls as she finished, her words hanging ominously in the air and the group behind her eagerly awaited their response.
“Okay
, I’m pretty sure that we weren’t told
all
of that,” Heather commented. “And I have really good listening skills, so I would remember hearing such information.”
The others chuckled at her reference to her senses, and Peri could tell that Heather was going to be a huge blessing to the pack that had the
honor of gaining her.
“We might have given you the condensed version,” Peri conceded.
“Why do you think we are all taking this so well?” Anna asked.
Sorin, Elle’s mate, was the one to answer her which was significant because he only spoke when he truly had something to say. “If I may,” he looked at Peri and she gave him a nod to continue. “I had the privilege of watching three Ame
rican young women, such as yourselves be brought into our world just last year. None of them were aware of the supernatural world. Each of them, however, felt as though there was something missing in their lives. I believe this feeling, this sixth sense if you will, is what allowed them to transition as smoothly as they did. You three seem to be even more receptive to what you have learned, and I think that is because you are going to be powerful healers. The magic in you is strong and though you may not have been aware of it, your soul has been.”