Authors: Cheyenne McCray
In no time she was out of Silver's bedroom and in the kitchen, thankfully before the D'Danann men showed up. She and Silver scooted up to the table and started spooning out the casserole, Copper taking an entire plateful from the giant serving pan. Goddess, was she ever hungry.
She took a big bite and closed her eyes in heavenly bliss. “As good as Mother used to make,” Copper said when she finished chewing. She saddened and opened her
eyes to look at Silver. “I just can't believe she'll never make it again.”
The sparkle left Silver's eyes and she squeezed Copper's hand. “We just have to believe that she's happy and well in Summerland. One day we will be with her again.”
After what Tiernan had told her, his confidence that there
was
truly a Summerland made Copper feel a little better. Since he was of Otherworld, and a former god, he no doubt knew what he was talking about.
Silver released Copper's hand to pour them each a big glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. Copper loved the citrus scent, and the taste was just as heavenly as everything else had been.
When he came in with Hawk, Tiernan was wearing black leather as always, and a different long black coat. He'd left his other one in Otherworld. Hawk had a long coat on, too, and she figured they wore them to hide their daggers and swords.
Tiernan's hair was damp, obviously from taking a shower. His blond hair hung to his shoulders, still a little wavy, and his deep-blue eyes made her squirm as he looked at her, and her nipples grew taut.
Hawk looked from Tiernan to Copper and frowned as if he disapproved, which surprised Copper. But the big warrior said nothing as he scooted up to the table and began spooning giant scoops of casserole onto his plate.
By then Silver and Copper had finished eating, so after she took her plate, cup, and fork to the sink, washed them, and put them away, Copper wandered around Silver's living room. She ran her fingers along the back of the delicate couch and touched the blue lampshade and crystal lamp. She noticed a huge overstuffed recliner that Silver must have gotten for the big D'Danann warrior who no doubt felt uncomfortable on Silver's furniture.
Copper loved Silver's oil paintings of various sites around San Francisco, like the Golden Gate Bridge and the
most crooked street in the world, Lombard Street. She paused at a crystal vase of fresh white lilies and yellow daisies and touched the blooms, which were soft under her fingertips. From one of the chairs, Polaris, Silver's python familiar, watched Copper's every movement. And if snakes could smile, she thought he did.
Copper went to one of the curtained windows, Zeph riding on her ear, and drew aside the lacy white curtain. Down below, the street was fairly quiet but would soon be swarmed with tourists and locals. The Haight-Ashbury district was always filled with colorful people.
She turned away from the window and spotted Silver's huge mahogany desk with its mess of papers, a flat-screen computer monitor, what looked like a state-of-the-art printer, and a cordless phone. She felt like a kid at Christmas as she went to investigate. She couldn't wait to get her own stuff. Sure, it was materialistic, but she found joy in the modern world, especially after being exiled for so long.
In the background she heard the rumble of male voices, both men speaking in their strong Irish brogues. Silver was talking with them, and since she wasn't really paying attention, Copper vaguely heard the words
plan, location
, and
search
.
She walked to the desk and the first thing she picked up was a picture of their family. Her heart felt crushed by a heavy weight as she studied Moondust's ethereal beauty, her precious smile. Copper could see the Elvin in her now. Her gaze traveled to their stern father, who had a proud expression on his face, and on to her sister and herself. The picture had been taken in Ireland on one of their excursions a couple of years ago.
Copper set it down and picked up a crystal-framed picture of her and Silver. The picture made her feel both happy and sad. Happy to see both their familiar expressions, and sadness that she had missed so much over the last months.
She sighed, set the framed photo down, and noticed a picture of herself alone. She scrunched her nose. Did she really look like that? All those bright freckles, a pert nose, and a grin that made her look like she was up to no good.
Copper had to smile. She usually was up to something.
A paper lying next to the picture caught her eye and she frowned. It was a piece of parchment with strange symbols on it. When she picked it up, the parchment felt heavier than paper and rough between her fingertips, and smelled of ancient books and dust.
As she studied it, her stomach clenched and she felt blood drain from her face. Her hand shook, and so did the parchment.
The drawing was of the door from her nightmare last night. And below the door was the double ring containing the evil runes.
The parchment slipped from her fingers and floated to the floor like a fallen leaf drifting from a tree. She couldn't move. Her mind raced and her heart thudded.
“Copper?” Silver grasped Copper's shoulder. She looked up into her sister's worried expression. “You're so pale. What's wrong? Does it have something to do with this?” Silver had picked the parchment up from the floor and her fingers trembled enough to make the paper shake. “You're scaring me.”
Before Copper realized it, Tiernan and Hawk were surrounding her.
“You know of this?” Tiernan asked, his tone both concerned and harshânot at her, but for how it had upset her, she was sure.
Copper cleared her throat. “Last nightâin my nightmare, that was the door.” She pointed to the rectangle. “I dreamed that I was standing in the middle of a circle just like that one, except that at the center was a giant eye, like a big flat version of the one Darkwolf wears around his neck.” She looked from the parchment back to Silver. “It
was bloody. And it was my blood beneath my feet, as if the thing were sucking the blood out of me.”
Everyone remained silent as they looked from one to another. Silver's face had gone beyond pale.
Copper went on to explain that she'd had various versions of this dream, each time traveling a little farther, and each time it got more frightening.
“I'm certain now, very certain, that these are dream-visions, not just nightmares.” Copper glanced at the parchment, but didn't want to hold itâthe evil in her vision came strongly and forcefully just from staring at it.
Tiernan put his hands at her shoulders and massaged some of the tenseness from her. She was surprised at his consideration and she leaned back into his touch, enjoying the way he loosened up the muscles of her neck, shoulders, and upper back. He was very, very good.
Hawk gave Tiernan a look of disapproval, and Copper wondered what Hawk's problem was.
“Maybe I can scry again, and learn more from your vision.” Silver took the parchment to the table reluctantly, as if she were afraid of what she might see.
Copper began clearing away the now-empty casserole pan and juice pitcher, and the men took their dishes from the table into the kitchen and to the sink. Apparently these men had mannersâor Silver had trained them well. Before Silver dragged out her pewter cauldron and the jug of purified water, Copper washed and dried off the table.
Everyone had crowded around Silver by the time she'd filled the cauldron and was ready to scry. Polaris was up on the surface of the table now, his body wrapped around the cauldron, obviously to add his own magic.
Silver held up her hands and glared at the men. “Back off. I can't do this with you hanging over my shoulders. It's probably better if you leave.”
Both men scowled. “I will not,” Hawk said.
Silver jabbed her finger at the big man's chest. “You
will if you want me to get anything out of this. Last time you two watched, it made me nervous. Copper and her familiar can stay, but the two of you have to go.”
Their scowls deepened, but Hawk and Tiernan strode from the apartment, and Hawk closed the door just a little too loudly.
“Phew.” Silver pushed her hair over her shoulder so that it didn't hang into the cauldron. “It's not easy getting rid of those two.”
Copper smiled, but her insides were still chilled from the sight of the drawing on the parchment.
Zephyr buzzed from Copper's ear to perch on the lip of the cauldron. She felt his magic, along with Polaris's. The honeybee might be small in comparison to Polaris or other familiars, but his magic was just as strong.
Silver braced her palms on the tabletop, to either side of the cauldron. Copper waited two steps away, not wanting to distract Silver. Sometimes Silver could see visions in the water itself, while other times images rose up in misty fog and played themselves out in a three-dimensional scene.
Copper forced herself to pick up the parchment, her hands still shaking, and focused on the crude drawing. At the same time she lent her own magical support to Silver's.
Wisps of fog dragged her attention from the parchment to the cauldron. The strands coalesced, slowly combining to form figures that Copper immediately recognized. The forms were Copper and her sister. Both were at a lonely pier at the bay, a pier that wasn't familiar to Copper. No one else was around and light from a waxing moon glistened on the water that barely moved against the shore.
In the foggy image from the cauldron, both Copper and Silver crept through the darkness to one of the huge pilings, telephone-pole-sized legs holding up the wooden pier. They peeked around the pilings, obviously taking care not to be seen.
Three figures stood beneath the pier. Darkwolf, Junga in
her human form, and someone who was standing too far into the shadows for Copper to make out. The figure had long hair that glistened in what little moonlight there was, and something struck her as familiar.
In the next moment purple light blazed through the darknessâ
And the foggy images vanished.
Both Copper and Silver stared at the cauldron, willing the images to come back.
“No!” Silver shouted, and Zephyr flew off the lip of the cauldron and returned to Copper's ear. “Bless it, that wasn't enough! I
hate
when that happens.”
Silver looked to Copper, frustration on her features as she continued. “I recognize that pier. That's where the D'Danann and some of our group of witches battled the Fomorii. We won the battle, but we lost one of the D'Danann and McNulty.”
“McNulty?” Copper's heart fell. “I really liked her.” Then she added in a growl, “Fucking demons.”
Silver sighed. “I was so full of rage when she died, that I helped the D'Danann kill the demons,” she said as she looked to her sister. “I came so close to turning to the dark that time that it was frightening.”
Copper wrapped her arm around Silver's shoulder and said in a matter-of-fact voice, “That would never happen. You did what you had to. I'm sure I would have done the same in your place.”
She released her sister after one last squeeze and met Silver's gray gaze. Silver cleared her throat. “Darkwolf . . . he has some kind of pull on me. It's like we're connected on some wavelength, and he uses that to try and manipulate me. I've fought him off before, but I'm afraid one day I might fail.”
Copper rubbed Silver's shoulder, the purple silk sliding beneath her palm. “You're strong. He can't hurt you.”
Silver sighed and said nothing.
“Do you think we're meant to go there?” Copper turned back to stare at the now quiet cauldron. “Or is it a warning?”
“I think we are supposed to go to the wharf.” Silver pushed away from the table and pursed her lips. “The only one dangerous magically is Darkwolf. The other Balorite warlocks are not even close to being as strong as he is, and the Fomorii have no magic other than being able to shift into human form and back. We probably wouldn't have any problem binding those other two with our witchcraft before they knew what was happening.” She tapped her chin with her finger as she looked thoughtfully at the cauldron. “The third figure, though, I'm not exactly sure what it, he, she, is.”
Copper's gaze returned to the cauldron. “That blaze of lightâwhere was it coming from?”
At that Silver paused. “I don't know for sure, but I think from us. Sometimes my magic takes on a purple hueâwhen I draw from the gray.”
Copper frowned at that. The gray caused Silver's magic to change hue? “When do you think this vision will happen?” Copper asked.
“Late this evening,” Silver said with conviction. “I have no doubt about it. The waxing moon will be in that phase tonight.”
With a sigh, Copper said, “I think you're right. We'll need backup.”
Silver rubbed the snake bracelet that wound from the back of one hand and up her wrist. “Yeah, and the D'Danann will want to go barreling in there with swords and fists, and we'll never find out what's going on.”
At that Copper had to grin. “Men. They have no subtleties.”
Silver smiled. “At least not ours.”
Ours
. The word gave Copper pause, and she thought of her relationship with Tiernan. He'd been so possessive last night, yet he was possibly going to end up marrying a woman who was pregnant with another man's child.
The thought of him being married made her stomach pitch and she had to push it away.
A knock on the door startled them both and Silver rolled her eyes to Copper. “No doubt they've been trying to listen in while we've been talking.”
Silver let the warriors into the apartment. After she closed the door behind them, she and Copper explained the vision they had seen and what they were positive they must do tonight.
“I will
not
allow you to go to the pier, Silver,” Hawk said in a growl as he banged his fist on the table, causing water to slosh from the cauldron. “Especially not so close to the warlock and the demon.”