Prophecy (Residue Series #4) (28 page)

“You’re a healer?” she asked, astounded.

“Regeneration abilities,” Eran replied. “Limited to my body only.”

“And you can manipulate metal as well?” I pointed out.

For another round of proof, he tossed the metal ball in the air, directly over the four walls that had once held it up, and flattened the ball until it was again a roof. It fell back in place with a loud shudder. “Correct. We all have something unique to offer.”

“As do we,” said my mother, chuckling as she stepped forward. Her second step never hit the dock. She turned and soared over the water in a brilliant display of speed, the force of the air carving the water beneath her body. She returned to the dock with the same velocity, whipping Jocelyn and Maggie’s hair and stirring our clothes.

And that’s when it began. Everyone wanted their time on the stage that my mother had unintentionally started over the water. Before long, the sides that were initially separated began to merge. Voices intermingled into a constant hum. Those who had wings blended with those who didn’t.

Flashes of fire, icicles, and small tornadoes were widespread. Incantations echoed off the trees. Dislodged feathers blanketed the water.

Night crept through the bayou, limiting our sight until we asked the Elementals to show off their ability by lighting the lanterns along the docks. They did this, unified, with one cast. Jocelyn was on hand to heal those who ended up flubbing their demonstrations of power, with singed skin and broken bones being the most common injuries.

During the night, I took Jocelyn by the hand and led her away, carefully weaving a path through the crowd, across the water, and back toward my shack. Along the way, she gave me a questioning look, not bothering to channel, and I gave her a wink. When we got closer to my shack, a smile crept across her face and I knew that she had figured it out.

My shack was located directly across from the activity over the water, which helped to light the inside with flashes of light, like small fireworks being set off now and then without the pop. From that light, I saw Jocelyn standing in the center of the single room, staring at me, her stunning features etched in the shadows as the light flashed across her face. She looked demure, innocent, but that’s probably because she was about to be made into a woman.

Without a word, I crossed the room and took her in arms. She met me with the same fervor, leaning into me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders, kissing and shoving her hips toward me.

She was enthralling. Intoxicating.

She moaned, and I knew my lips were doing the same to her. Trailing them down over her jaw, along her neck, she trembled. The collar of the Vire uniform she still wore stopped me there.

Pulling away enough to lay my forehead against hers, I unbuttoned the shirt, listening to her heavy breathing and enjoying the feel of her fingers clutching my hips. When the shirt drifted to the floor and the flash of light fell across her body, I drew in a breath.

“What?” she asked, and I could see the uneasiness stirring her expression.

“My God…,” I breathed.

“What?” she demanded, her eyebrows furrowed.

“I am so lucky to have you.”

Her mouth closed and then lifted in the start of a relieved smile.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

I wanted to chuckle, because she had no notion that it was me who should be thanking her.

“Despite all your strength and untapped power, you still have no idea, do you?” I asked in amazement.

“About what?”

“How much I love you.”

Exhaling deeply, trying to keep my head from spinning, I curved one arm around her back and the other beneath her knees before lifting her off the floor. Holding her close, we made it to the bed in one step, a very eager one. Carefully laying her down, I felt her hold on to me, gripping my waist so that I came with her.

Tenderly, I kissed her, and pulled the sheets over us, while wrapping her in my arms. And from there I experienced the most incredible night of my life.

* * *

Later, when her eyes closed and her chest began its even rise and fall with each breath – and I was certain she could only hear me in her dreams – I brushed the hair gently from her ear. “I do love you, Jocelyn. I love you more than life its self.”

I then slipped out of bed for the window where, just outside, the display of abilities stretched on. And I knew my premonition from earlier was correct. Something big had happened.

Unity. In more ways than one.

I peered over my shoulder at Jocelyn, who was deep asleep now, still so tempting in her slumber, and back out at the large, strong, indestructible army we had somehow managed to combine.

Yes, something big did happen.

But that was where my intuition of earlier ended. I had no idea that two people, two incredibly important people, hadn’t been in the swamp that night. They should have been. One should have been settled over her cane frowning at the entertainment, as was her tradition, and the other should have been right there beside her lifelong friend watching with stoic indifference.

Maybe it was because they didn’t come from our world. Maybe my emotions were clouded by elation and hope. Maybe the sight of Jocelyn in my bed dissolved all intellectual thought.

But I didn’t foresee The Sevens attack.

And for that I will never forgive myself.

17
TOURNAMENT

T
HE NEXT DAY STARTED WITH A
smaller repeat of the “games” from the night before. Three men were watching an Elementalist spit into the water where it made the surrounding area of impact boil from its heat. Another group watched a woman levitating several winged men. None of this was strange. In fact, it was good, so I couldn’t understand the reason for their perplexed expressions. Then a massive fireball skipped down the water, spraying those on the dock along its path, and I understood.

They were stronger today than last night, than any night before it, I suspected. Their energy was different, more potent and quicker in reaction. That was the cause of suspicious curiosity in their dropped jaws and furrowed eyebrows.

Ah, I get it
– I began to think when Jocelyn’s hands slid around my waist. I’d heard her stirring behind me and was just about to go to her when the fireball soared passed.

“It’s us,” Jocelyn stated.

I looked back to find her peering out the window, her cheek cradled against my shoulder. “Us?”

Her voice languid from sleep, she explained, “Remember when you were trying to show me how to cast in Ms. Boudreaux’s class? We were trying to heal the rash Estelle gave you?”

I made a sound at the back of my throat that was meant to be an acknowledgement. She understood and continued, after yawning and extending her arms in front of me. My hands found hers and drew her back in place as she spoke. I wasn’t ready for her to let me go. “We healed the class,” she explained. “And we improved them last night in the same way.”

“How?” I asked, intrigued by her insight, a point which hadn’t occurred to me.

She put it so simply, I chuckled.

“You channeled my energy in your release.”

I thought about it and then nodded. “It was an incredible release,” I admitted.

Her cheek moved against my shoulder as she smiled. “I know…”

I laughed from my belly.

“Well, look at them,” she said with a tip of her head at the window. “They are living proof how perfect we are together.”

I surveyed the growing crowd, who were now engaged in larger, even more powerful casts. “Yes, we are. We definitely are.”

A state of absolute comfort washed over me as we stood there, with Jocelyn so close and our forces growing more powerful. There wasn’t much more I could ask for, and then…

I stiffened and jutted my head forward, toward the bayou outside. Without realizing it, I muttered, “I don’t believe it…”

“What?”

“My cousins are here.”

“Really?” She sounded more excited than I felt.

“Really.”

“Is that a good thing?” she asked, trying to decipher my tone.

“No,” I said before considering it. “And yes.”

“Why no?”

I watched as one of them fist bumped a winged man who had come to introduce himself. It was meant to be a gesture of greeting, but with that kind of force… “They’re descendants of Celts.”

“Which means?”

“They’re brutes.”

Already, I was heading out the door, preparing to squash any argument Aidan was creating.

“That’s a little rude,” Jocelyn pointed out.

“It’s all right,” I reassured her. “To them, it’s a compliment.”

Shockingly, by the time Jocelyn set us down on the dock opposite my shack, Aidan had made friends with the man who he’d nearly shoved off the dock with his greeting. It was in the middle of a hearty laugh when Aidan happened to catch sight of me. He clapped a hand to the other man’s arm, bellowed, “Too true”, and began a march in my direction.

“Little cousin,” he said, again shouting from his gut, as was typical.

“Not so little anymore,” I replied.

“True! I understand you are taking the world by storm, as your destiny calls for.”

We embraced as I asked, “What are you doing here?”

He pulled away swiftly, jerking his head back. With a hand sweeping across the rest of my family, he announced, “We heard there was a war going on.”

“Took you a while.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “News travels slow to those on the fringe. We came in last night. Tried to track you down but…,” his eyes moved to Jocelyn, “well, now. I can see why you were busy.”

His hands fell and he approached her, taking in her disheveled hair and the crystal quartz bracelet she wore on her wrist. If it weren’t for the black cloak slung over her shoulders, I had no doubts that he’d be inspecting her curves, too. But either way, she was gorgeous.

“My lady,” Aidan whispered, bowing to take each of her hands and kiss their tops. “And I was told Weatherfords were wretched. Not so with you.”

She gave me a questioning stare.

“Aidan,” I told her. “One of the more brutish of the brutes.”

He laughed enthusiastically. “That I am, little cousin.”

“And this is Jocelyn, the Rel-”

“She needs no introduction,” Aidan declared. “Come, meet my family, Relicuum, now that we all are on good terms.”

I grimaced, wondering what she would think, despite resolving our truce – again – but it turned out better than I thought. I should have given her more credit. She walked away from them an hour later with a high opinion. I was amazed.

They, however, weren’t the only ones to enter the swamp last night. Some of the most powerful casters to ever exist mingled with the crowd, which never seemed to dissipate along the docks and only grew in size.

I was counting on this but not on the number who showed. It was a testament to our strength and willfulness as Dissidents, but it threw a wrench in my plans to assess every person’s capability level. A quick survey of the thriving village confirmed there were far too many of them to do it individually.

My eyes landed on Aidan, who was badgering a man into a contest, and the answer came.

“A tournament.”

I looked at Jocelyn who stood beside me and my eyebrows crossed in confusion. It was her voice that gave me the answer, and it had channeled through my head. What threw me was that we weren’t touching.

She had seen what I had and read my thoughts, and now I was reading hers.

“Apparently, last night affected us too,” she said without moving her lips, other than to lift them in a mischievous smile.

I kissed her, taking my time before pulling away. “I love you.”

“Better,” she retorted with a sparkle in her eyes.

I went in search of Lester to ask him to separate the forces by ability and to pair the men and women for competition. He did this with amazing speed, and as contestants stood in line, waiting for their turn to prove their prowess, I evaluated our new troops.

We’re stronger than before, when the Vires came for Jocelyn and me in the village the night they took her from me, more diverse, with broader intellect. That was apparent as each competitor stepped up to the makeshift line Lester had drawn at the edge of a dock.

Most rounds were interesting, but there were those that stood out as impressive. Theleo was well-paired with a dark-skinned man with white hair and wings to match who went by the name of Campion. Both showed unique skills, keeping the other guessing. In the end, they shook hands, and gave each other the due respect each deserved. Only one woman participated who wasn’t from our world and who wasn’t able to grow wings. She was human in all respects. But in her black suit laden with weapons, the sai she deftly controlled, and in the maneuvers she made, using the docks, boats, and water as tools rather than obstacles, it was clear she was a force in and of herself. Even her name was memorable, Ms. Beedinwigg. All of Maggie and Eran’s roommates performed well. With Ezra using her intelligence to outwit her competitor, Rufus using his size, and Felix using distractions, it was clear they could hold their own. The only one who declined participation was Gershom. I remember seeing him at our high school before he disappeared entirely. He was quiet back then, too. Although, he did mention that his ability would show itself soon enough. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but I took him for his word.