He nodded. “She is. She will protect you when I can’t, Danny.”
“Do you believe that your father is telling you the truth?”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore. He swears that he never spoke to me tonight, but I also know how he feels about Luke. It’s confusing. I’m doing what I think is best for now, staying hidden until I’m sure that he can be trusted.”
“What is going to happen? We can’t be on the run, living in hiding like this? It puts me on edge.” I closed my eyes.
“That wasn’t your life, Danny.”
I opened my eyes and looked at him.
“You had a magical one, not the one everyone wants you to believe. There is real danger out there—I do not know who is behind this, how my best friend is linked to all of this, who wanted Minaut and myself off guard, or what they are planning. I know it’s frustrating, but we must stay safe for now. Your life, as much as everyone else’s in this house, is in danger, and I’m not losing any of you again.”
I got what he was saying. He didn’t just lose me that night but his best friend and all the people he trusted. I nodded.
He looked at his watch. “It’s late. Tomorrow is another day, and a long one at that.” He smiled.
We both got up. He walked me to my room and chuckled when he saw Minaut. She woke up and followed me in the room.
“Sleep tight. The house takes care of the bedbugs, so they won’t bite.”
His joke made me laugh. I watched him walk back down the hallway to his room. I shut the door and leaned against it, closing my eyes.
“It is not going to take that long, Marick.” I heard the voice again and opened my eyes at once. Minaut looked as if she had a smile on her face.
Chapter 12
MARICK
* * *
I struggle to sleep after speaking to Danny tonight. My heart was breaking with the knowledge that she genuinely believed her life of the past ten years was a dark mess when actually it was a beautiful love story filled with happiness, magic, and laughter.
With the way she pulled away when I touched her hand and how she kept on apologizing for that, I doubted I was going to get my Danny truly back this time. But she was here, alive and real, not somewhere six feet underground. I was so stupid. I should’ve never stopped believing, and I knew the shifters had something to do with this, I just didn’t know who and what the agenda was for them to feel that Danny had to go.
Minaut was happy too. I hadn’t seen her fully functioning like that in a long time. Her shield was strong tonight. Though I missed her emotions, knowing Danny was safe, I knew I would find my balance again. Life could be great again, as it should’ve been the past ten years.
Ten years.
It felt so wrong. She had been alive, in France, all this time.
She still had her French accent. She still drove me insane for her. It was really Danny.
My phone rang and woke me. I must have dozed off. It was my dad. I picked it up at once.
“Dad?”
“Marick, come home please, and bring Luke with you.”
“Dad, you know I can’t.”
“We need to handle this by following procedure, son. You can’t hide like this.”
“I will, if that’s what it’s going to take.”
“Minaut?”
“She’s with Danny again, Dad. You know wisps.”
“I’m scared, son.”
“Dad, you don’t think Minaut would’ve known if it was a shifter or a doppelganger? It’s Danny.”
“It’s Sebastian too.”
“He didn’t fool me or our wisp.” I was getting upset again.
“I want her back as much as you do. All I’m asking is to trust me and to let us do the tests that need to be done to make sure.”
“Tests? Like the coroner’s examination the night she died? Or like the one we did on that shapeshifter? That fraud would’ve still been at my side if it weren’t for Minaut. Something is terribly wrong here, Father, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it. Sorry, but I’m not going to take that chance with your tests. It’s not that I do not trust you—it’s that I don’t trust anyone around you.” I ended the call and got out of bed.
I thought about Danny again. The way she said this house was making her afraid. It wasn’t natural for houses to take care of a family’s needs. Her words of what it meant to her by staying put, how trapped she felt. It pounded against my skull.
She needed to get that what she thought she went through then years ago wasn’t her life. She wasn’t kidnapped then, and she wasn’t now.
I made her a promise, and I am going to stick with that promise. She will be safe. Whoever is behind this, I will find them, and they will pay.
I got dressed and went downstairs where a feast of a breakfast was waiting in the kitchen.
Everyone was speaking at once, making jokes. The banishing world didn’t break them once, not once.
A guilt feeling washed over me. I shifted my gaze to the floor as I leaned against the door frame.
“Good morning, grumpy.” Sebastian teased me, and I gave him a lopsided smile.
“I have to apologize to each and every one of you.” Tears blurred in my eyes.
“Hey, stop it,” Sebastian said.
“No, I should’ve listened harder.”
“We’re fine,” Francine said.
“Speak for yourself.” Katia spoke. “I’m expecting compensation when all of this is over. Everything we had…”
“Katia,” Sebastian said.
“They banished us. If you trapped by that world like the rest of us, we would have starved to death.”
“No, Katia is right. Compensation is what I can give you. You will get back everything you had and more.”
“See? Not so hard,” she said, a bit smugly, to Sebastian
He shook his head, not looking impressed by his sister at all. “Our freedom is enough.”
“No,” Katia got up, “it’s not. I would’ve probably been married by now—you too. We lost everything, Sebastian, because of all the fake evidence that pointed to us.”
“Enough,” Luke said.
“Relax. Compensation will be given, Sebastian. Katia is right—you lost everything,” I said, stepping in. Even their mother. Father was never going to forget that.
“So did you.”
I shook my head as Danny walked in with Minaut. Minaut gave me a funny look and looked back at Danny who grabbed a cup to pour herself coffee.
I might not feel her emotions anymore, but I knew she wanted to tell me something.
I walked over to Danny. “Morning,” I said and grabbed a cup.
“Morning.” She smiled.
“Want to tell me something?”
She froze, looked at Minaut briefly, and back to me. “No.”
“Then why is the wisp trying to?” I frowned.
“She what?”
“I might not feel her emotions, Danny, but I’ve known her all my life. What happened?”
“I don’t know what you are speaking of.” She grabbed her cup and gave Minaut a scolding look before she sat down.
I smiled. She might not know Minaut that well, but they still communicated the same way.
This might not be so hard after all.
* * *
DANIELLE
* * *
I wanted to kill Minaut.
A few hours ago, I may have thought I was insane, but I kept hearing her voice in the back of my mind. And something tells me that the giant cat knows. What did it all mean? A part of me knew, but I was too scared to say it.
Based on my mother’s discovery at my grandma’s house and what she claimed to be, Minaut didn’t choose a human but a witch that had no idea she was one. I struggle to come to terms with that. It meant that Marick never had to give up the throne to be with me. But how do I prove that I am what the wisp believed to my mother? The journals? The books that had been in our family for centuries?
I don’t know.
“I know you can hear me,” she snapped. “Pretending you don’t is an insult to me.”
I really didn’t want to acknowledge her, but I couldn’t ignore her. Marick’s words from last night were stuck in my head, the way my death broke her. Our thoughts weren’t a two-way stream yet.
I desperately wanted to know how. Why me? Was I a witch? Is this what she tried to tell Marick? Tried to tell everyone when she chose me what I really was?
Her remarks annoyed me, and I struggled to push them aside, trying to listen to the others, but her thoughts were grating on the edges of my brain, causing a huge headache.
“Stop,” I said. Everyone stopped eating and looked at me. I got up. “Sorry, I have a headache,” I said, excused myself, and ran up to my room.
I closed the door before Minaut could enter and slid down against the door.
I could still hear her voice loud and clear. “You need to tell Marick, Danny. I didn’t choose a human—I never did.” She was laughing and started to speak to herself about a pull, and why it was so strong with me.
“Just stop,” I begged softly as her voice kept on babbling faster.
“I gave up my king for you, Marick his throne because they thought you were human. You’re not human. I chose you, and now I know why. It had nothing to do with things I couldn’t understand but the things I should’ve. Wisps choose the most powerful witches, Danny. It’s what we do because, to be honest, they’re the only ones that can hear us. Please don’t ignore me,” she begged.
“Go away,” I whispered.
“Please let me in. I can help you. You might not be able to remember, but my memories can show you. It would be as if you got your memories back.”
As tempting as that was, I couldn’t. This wasn’t natural.
She started to scratch against the door, and I wanted to cover my ears, wishing she would back off.
“Nobody has heard me for years. Please, Danny.”
I heard Marick talking to the wisp. “what is it girl?”
“She’s a witch.” I heard Minaut’s voice speaking to him as loud as she could.
“I know it’s hard, you still have the bond girl. She needs to find it again.”
She sighed.
The knock came then.
I got up from the floor and opened the door. He frowned as I only opened it a crack.
He looked down at Minaut. “She only wants to be your friend, Danny.”
“I’m not friend material.”
“Liar,” Minaut said, mumbling as she walked away.
Marick lips pulled at the corners of his mouth. “That is going to cost you.”
“Just tell her I’m sorry.”
“You used to be inseparable.”
“Thanks to the potion, I don’t remember her.”
“It’s not her fault, Danny.”
“I know, but I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Okay.” He smiled. “I’ll tell her to give you time.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. He was turning around when he stopped.
“Why did you yell stop?”
“Maybe another day, okay?”
He nodded, didn’t push me like I did when he told me those same words last night.
I closed the door and went to rest on the bed.
I didn’t lie when I said I had a headache.
She didn’t choose a human at all but a powerful witch. It’s what wisps apparently do.
* * *
MARICK
* * *
“She okay?” Sebastian asked.
“Yeah, she is struggling with all of this.” I sat back in the kitchen chair.
“Why did she yell ‘stop’?” Katia asked.
“I don’t know. She only said she will tell me later.”
“She has always been weird, Marick, but that was a bit crazy.”
“Katia,” I said sternly.
“You married her. Just saying she is a bit weirder than usual.”
Something sharp pinched my leg. “Ow!” I looked down and found Minaut biting me.
“I’m sorry, girl. We have to be patient.”
She grabbed my pant leg again and pulled it, ripping it this time.
“Minaut, I know you are…” I paused as I looked at her and frowned. She was trying to communicate with me. This was why she was so frustrated. “What is it?”
She turned around and left. All of us got up and followed her to the living room where she sat in front of the sofas.
She put her paw on the sofa, signaling me to sit down.
So, I sat in front of her. “Minaut, I don’t know this time.”
She gave me a look as if she wanted to say, ”Shut up and listen, you big doofus.”
“But I will try,” I said.
She looked at me—and nothing, not a single feeling.
She closed her eyes, and I did the same.
I only heard gasps, and when I opened my eyes, Minaut had in her mouth a witch’s hat, the kind that humans wore on Halloween.
“Witches are coming?”
She tapped my left leg, which we had established meant no, and then she turned her head to the left and looked up slightly.
I frowned and looked at what she looked at. No cameras were in the corner, no devices to spy on us. Nobody knew about this place except me and Minaut. I looked at her again. “I don’t understand.”
She looked at the corner of the roof again and I followed her gaze. Witches in the corner? What is she trying…? And then it hit me like a swarm of bees.
She wasn’t looking at the corner but passed it, into Danny’s room. The “stop” she yelled this morning… Goosebumps blossomed all over my skin. A witch? Danny? How?
I looked at Minaut, confused. No, we would’ve picked up on that, I thought.
“Danny?”
She tapped my right leg, meaning yes, and then put the hat on my lap.
“Witch?”
She tapped my right leg again.
“What?” Katia said.
“Shh,” Francine scolded.
Minaut put her front paws on the couch, caging me in. She was big. She pressed her head against mine and closed her eyes. She could hear Minaut’s thoughts?
She opened her eyes and looked at mine.
“Is that why she yelled ‘stop’ this morning?” I asked.
She tapped my right leg again.
“Is this why you chose her?” I had to know.
Paw, right leg.
Fuck, she always knew that Danny was a…was a…Fuck! She was a witch!
I got up but Sebastian stopped me.
“Let me. She’s known us a bit longer, Marick.”
I nodded, still in a daze. Danny was a witch.
* * *
DANIELLE
* * *
An hour later, I heard another knock on my door. I wished he would leave me alone for a few hours. I got up to open the door. When I opened it, I found Sebastian.
He looked at me sternly. “We need to talk,” he said, and I let him in.
He didn’t sit down but paced slowly, his hands rubbing his face hard.
I pulled a blanket over my shoulders. “What is it?” I asked.
He turned abruptly and looked at me. “Why didn’t you tell us, Danny?”
I frowned. “Tell you what?”
“What you are.”
I squinted confused at him. “What I am… Minaut.” I closed my eyes and opened them at once. “How do you even know?”
“Minaut is one of the beings whose magic is in this house. The house felt her need, Danny.”
“The house told you.”
He wanted to laugh. “No, the house gave her the tools to communicate with Marick. She’s a wisp, not a cat. She’s much smarter than some animal, Danny. Marick is not happy.”
“I didn’t know, okay? I thought I was losing my mind. First with Eric, then with Minaut.”
H
is gaze snapped to me. “Eric? What about my brother?”
Shit. I closed my eyes and sighed. “I’m not sure, okay? It’s not like Minaut. I think I heard him before.”
“Where?”
“At the other house.”
He grunted. “You didn’t think that it could mean anything? That you might be special? That this could be why Minaut chose you?”
“I didn’t know Minaut then.”
“She never chose a human at all. Wisps usually go for the most powerful witch in their family, and now that I think about it, she chose you a few months after you married Marick. You were her family. She always knew.”
“No, she didn’t. She never even speculated it. She spoke about a pull that never made sense to her. It’s all confusing still.”
He grabbed my shoulders softly and sat on his haunches before me.
“Danny, you really heard her say all that?” He smiled.
“It’s not as awesome as you try to make it out to be. My head is pounding, Sebastian.”
“I don’t think it’s Minaut alone that is the cause of that.”
I frowned.
“You said you heard Eric’s.”
“I don’t know if I heard him. I heard a voice begging—sounding frustrated—that didn’t belong to any of you.”
“I will say it’s his. It’s your gift, Danielle, causing your headaches. Your gift to hear people’s thoughts.”
“Telepathy?”
“No, telepathy is communicating. That’s what you have with Minaut—can she hear yours.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“It will grow stronger as your bond grows. Give it a few years.”
“You want to tell me that I’m going to walk around with a huge headache from now on?”
“Only until it becomes natural to you, Danielle.”
“’Natural’? Do you hear yourself? There is nothing natural about any of this, Sebastian. I can’t be a witch.”
“Minaut say you are.”
“Why didn’t she tell anyone before? Why wait ’til now?”
“Because her witch didn’t hear her thoughts back then. You said it yourself, she wasn’t sure about it. This Forgotten potion might have wiped your memories, but it’s awakened your gifts, Danny.”
Playing With Fire Page 30
