The Blue Woods (26 page)

My hold on the cords slackened and the Dragon buoyed up. I yanked him back down.
I'm a little busy right now—

Just get to her! Near the birch trees.

I flung my hand, almost like an afterthought, and the Dragon vanished. He wouldn't be gone for long; his own magic was too powerful for that, but we'd have enough time to get the hell out of here. We should never have come to the Waterfall tonight.

Alessia! Answer me!

Help . . .
But it was not Alessia who answered; it was Cal.
By . . . the birch . . . trees . . .

His voice sounded far away in my mind—too far away. I ran through the woods, flinging branches out of my way, kicking up bits of hardened snow and dead leaves. The instant I saw the glow of silver, I shot Pakistani magic at it and the silver disappeared. In its absence I saw only the faintest of blue light, the telltale sign of a weakening Benandante.

I burst through the birch trees. Cal lay on his side, his body a mass of cuts and bites. He hauled himself to his feet when he saw me, and relief spread through me. Good; at least he was standing. But Alessia . . .

She lay on the ground, her aura dim and crackling, its light going in and out, in and out. I knelt beside her and hovered my hands above her broken body. The yellow smoke of the Redwoods spiraled out of my fingertips. Alessia shivered as the magic seeped into her. I closed my eyes and listened. Her heartbeat was quick—too quick—but the thread of life in her was still strong.
We have to get her back to her body.

I picked Alessia up, my hands trying to find a decent way to hold her that wasn't going to hurt her more.
Jonah.
I felt the spark of connection in my mind.
I've got her. But she's bad.
I closed my mind to him before he could answer. I couldn't deal with comforting him on top of everything else.

Holding Alessia against my chest like she was a ticking bomb, I ran back through the forest, Cal limping along by my side. I could hear his pain in my mind, but he was pushing through it, staying strong for the Clan, for Alessia, for me.
You did good,
I told him.
You definitely earned your stripes tonight.
To the rest of the Clan I said,
Alessia is really hurt
.
I'm heading back to Jeff's with her
.

Right behind you,
Heath replied. As we reached the stone wall, he and Jeff caught up to us. I balanced Alessia in my arms as I clambered over the wall. In the sky above the hillside, Nerina and the Harpy waged war with each other, their auras sizzling as they clashed again and again. Cora dodged right and left, trying to get a jab in, but it was obvious that Nerina wanted the Harpy all to herself. Her movements were fueled by fury; I could see it in every slash and bite she threw at the Harpy. If there was anyone who recognized revenge, it was me.

Let's go,
Cora said as she plummeted toward us.
She doesn't want our help
. And once again I wondered what it was between Nerina and the Harpy, how they were connected in some long-ago story.

Bree, get on my back
, Jeff said. He bent his two front legs so that I could climb on. I cradled Alessia in one arm and clung to his neck with the other, and we raced across the pasture, up the driveway, and down the road back to his house.

The minute we got back into the living room, the Italian histrionics started. Lidia wailed, and not even Mr. Salter could get her to stop. Barb ran to the bathroom to get the first-aid kit, and Jenny danced from one foot to the other, covering her mouth with her hands and asking between sniffles, “What should we do?” I ignored them and laid Alessia the Falcon on top of Alessia the Human. She was too weak to even transform back.

I stood and pressed my palms to my temples. “Everybody, shut up! If you can't be helpful, then leave the goddamn room!” I pointed at Lidia. “Stop crying. She's not dead yet, and she's not going to be if I can help it.”

To her credit, the woman pulled herself together. Mr. Salter kept an arm around her as she ran her shaking fingers through her hair. “What do you need us to do?” he asked.

At least someone was thinking clearly. I gestured toward Cal. He had shifted back into his body and looked like he'd gotten the short end of the stick in a bar fight. “Help Cal. He's pretty banged up.”

I bent over Alessia, tuning out the noise around me.

Heath crouched beside me and laid his hand on Alessia's head. “Maybe we should take her to the hospital.”

“How are we going to explain her injuries? ‘Oh, yeah, Doctor, she got into a fight with a bunch of wild hunting dogs and, by the way, her wounds are magical'? That'll go over real well. You know we can't do that. Don't be an idiot.” I glanced at Heath, whose jaw tightened. “Sorry.”

“It's okay. We all get a bad attitude when our loved ones are hurt.”

I pressed my lips together. I wouldn't exactly classify Alessia as a loved one. I was saving her for Jonah, because I could only imagine the shit-show that would result if his girlfriend died at the hands of his fellow Malandanti. But as I laid my palm on Alessia's forehead, I knew that wasn't the whole story. Despite my best intentions, Alessia had become my friend.

“Where's Nerina?” Jenny asked. She was curled into the deepest corner of the couch, her knees drawn up to her chest.

“Hell-bent on revenge back at the woods,” I muttered as I drifted my hands back and forth over Alessia's two halves.

Heath shot me a look.

I met his eyes. “You can't tell me I'm wrong. Something's going on there that she's not telling us.”

“Just focus on Alessia for now.”

I couldn't exactly argue with him on that. I turned my attention deep inside, listening for Alessia's heartbeat, searching for that thread of life inside her. It was fraying, fiber by fiber, and it would be whittled down to nothing unless I did something fast.

I did the first thing I could think of. I touched the Tibetan magic inside me, opened that door in my little Tudor house. It popped right open, the magic blossoming at the lightest prick of my mind's finger. I shoved aside the memory of the last time I'd used this magic and poured it into Alessia. A moment later, her Falcon form dissolved back into her body, leaving a handful of shimmering particles dancing in the air above her. I sat back on my haunches. Okay, I'd crossed that bridge. Now what?

Bruises and cuts formed on Alessia's skin, and two angry puncture marks appeared across her collarbone. I knew these wounds went more than skin deep; they were soul deep. No hospital could cure these injuries. You had to fight magic with magic, and that rule applied to healing as well.

But I had never used the Redwoods magic to heal a person besides myself. And the Redwoods magic was tricky. Its main use was for good, not like the other sites whose magic was used most often to hurt people. And if you pushed it too hard, it went off the rails.

“There's a first time for everything,” I whispered.

The front door banged open and Nerina burst in, her celestial aura blinding the rest of us. The light faded bit by bit as she shifted back into her body. “How's Alessia?”

“Not good.” I felt her approach behind me, her shadow darkening Alessia's form. “Do you mind?” I looked back. “I'm trying to work here.”

She tensed, but before she could say anything, Cora grabbed her arm. “What the hell was that back there?”

“I don't know what you—”

“Oh, yes, you do. You practically knocked me out trying to take down the Harpy by yourself.”

“I wanted you to help Alessia.”

“Don't even. You didn't know Alessia was hurt until we were fleeing the scene.”

Nerina shook Cora off and stomped to the other side of the room. “The Harpy and I have a history. She is always going to come after me.”

“Yeah, and we can help! Don't try to take her on all by yourself.”

“I can handle it.”

“Obviously you can't, or the Harpy would be dead!”

“Can you guys
please shut up
,” I yelled. Alessia hadn't moved or made a sound during their entire fight, and that worried me more than anything else. “We have bigger fish to fry right now.”

Cora tossed her ginger hair back and bit her lip. “You're right. I'm sorry.” She raised an eyebrow at Nerina, obviously expecting an apology. Before Nerina could give it—which I didn't think she would do unless hell froze over—loud pounding echoed through the house from the front door.

Whatever tension stretched across the room ratcheted up about a thousand notches. Jeff held his hand up. No one breathed. My hands shook as I brought them back up to Alessia. If the Harpy or the Dragon was on the other side of that door, Alessia was as good as dead unless I healed her in the next twenty seconds.

Whoever it was pounded again. The house shook with the force of it, rattling us all. “Jeff,” Barb whispered, “get the shotgun.” I turned and stared at her. What the hell was with Maine? What were a bunch of hippie vegetarians doing with a gun in the house?

But before Jeff could move, a muffled voice accompanied the next round of knocking. “Bree? Bree, let me in.”

“Jesus,” I breathed, letting out all the air I'd been holding in. “It's Jonah.”

The room came back to life. Heath got to his feet and Nerina rounded on me. “What have you done? Why is he here?”

“He knew she was hurt! She tried to reach out to him—”

“And how convenient that he failed to help.”

“Actually—” Heath began.

Nerina cut him off and pointed at Jeff. “Do not let him in.”

“Are you kidding me?” I scrambled to my feet. “He could help!” I waved my hand at Alessia's inert form. “They have a connection. Having him here could help her come back from—from wherever she is.”

“He's a Malandante!” Nerina shrieked. I jerked back. Seriously, I'd never heard her voice go that high. She spun to face the rest of the Clan. “We cannot allow a Malandante into our safe house.”

“I think he already proved himself in the Guild basement,” I shot back. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Jenny uncurling herself from the couch.

Jeff stepped forward. No one but me noticed Jenny tiptoeing across the room. “I'm inclined to agree with Nerina. Even if we can trust him, who's to say what he would tell the Malandanti under duress?” He folded his arms. “It's my house and my decision.”

“It's my house too,” Jenny said from the entryway. Everyone turned to look at her, but before anyone could stop her, she flung open the door.

And just like that, Jenny Sands became my new best friend.

I sent everyone out of the room except Jonah. Partly because I really needed to concentrate on working the Redwoods magic but mainly because I couldn't deal with the tension in the room. Forget cutting it with a knife; nothing short of a chainsaw was getting through that.

Jonah scooped Alessia up in his arms, holding her like she was the most cherished and endangered creature on earth. He moved her to the couch and laid her out, settling her head in his lap. “Just stay there,” I told him. “I don't know if having you here will help, but it definitely can't hurt.”

He nodded. His face was pale, his gaze traveling the length of Alessia's body. He buried his hands in her hair. “You can heal her, right?”

“I—I don't know.”

“Come on, Bree. I've seen your magic. You can do this.” He swallowed hard. His hand moved from her hair and cupped her face. “You
have
to do this.”

Okay, maybe I had come to love Alessia, and sure, I was doing this for her. But watching him, I could see what it would cost to fail. It wouldn't be just the loss of a Benandanti Clan member. It would be the loss of my brother, because losing Alessia was something he would never come back from.

I knelt beside the couch and closed my eyes. All the doors of my Tudor house sprang open, but I moved past them, shutting each one until I found the one I needed. The yellow magic spilled out of the doorway, flooding my hallways until the house was just a ball of golden light. I opened my eyes. Jonah was staring at me, his jaw unhinged. “Christ, Bree. You're
glowing
.”

You should see what you look like when you're a Panther
, I wanted to say, but I didn't need to. He'd heard me in his mind without my even meaning for him to. The magic had taken me over. I was completely undone; only the mage was left now. With a shiver, I recognized the same feeling I'd had in Tibet. Something
had
happened when I destroyed that brazier . . .

Whatever . . . I couldn't worry about it now. Sunshiny light poured out of me. I focused it on Alessia, let it seep into her, through her skin, into her bones, down to her soul. The world, the room, even Jonah dimmed around me until all I could see was Alessia. One by one, I dropped the Redwoods magic on each of her wounds. The magic bent to my will with the lightest touch. There wasn't one site that eluded me now. The power of all seven sites was inside me, part of me . . .