The Rhiannon Chronicles

by Maggie Shayne

  “We should have an escape route, like at your cabin, Roxanne,” I said, shouting the idea out of the blue as I had been doing at intervals all day through.

  After jumping out of her skin, Roxy took a deep breath and said, “Way ahead of you, hon. Maxie told me she has a car parked in a storage unit a mile away. Keys are under the wheel well and the plates are...borrowed.”

  “Where?” I asked.

  “Cross the road out front and go through the woods, due west. It’s EZ Store And More, 240 Euclid. Unit ten. The car’s a green Ford Escape. Your friend Mad Maxie thought it was funny as hell to have an Escape as an escape vehicle.” She lowered her head, shook it slowly. “That gal’s got an odd sense of humor.”

  I assumed there had been a joke in her remarks somewhere but I had no idea what it was. I was already thinking about which door to exit with the children. How fast I could cast the Glamourie over all of us, and whether we should have a rehearsal. Yes, that was it. We should have a rehearsal. A–what do they call them?–a drill.

  Small feet on the staircase alerted me. At last, my children were awake.

  “It’s awful now that Christian has to sleep all day like the rest of them,” Gareth complained as they came down the stairs at midday. I was glad to see Roxanne had kept them to our routine, up till midnight, in bed till midday, or whenever they felt like waking.

  They would never have alarm clocks, my children. They would rise according to their bodies’ dictates, and sleep when they felt tired, within reason.

  “It won’t be that long till Christian wakes up, though,” Nikki said. They reached the bottom of the stairs and headed our way. Roxanne and I were in the large sitting room. They had to cross through to get to the kitchen, where I sensed they were heading, if their grumbling stomachs were any indication.

  They were wearing pajamas Maxine and Lou must have purchased for them, for I’d never seen them before. Super heroes decorated my children’s chests. Iron Man for Ramses. The Black Widow for Nikki. And Gareth wore the Hulk, though I suspected he identified more with the fictional creature’s alter ego, the mild-mannered healer, Bruce Banner.

  Yes, I had watched every film about each of the super heroes with the children during our brief time together thus far. They loved them. Identified with them, I supposed having super powers of a sort themselves. Roland felt it was good to expose them to role models who used their gifts for the cause of good.

  The children spotted me, stopped walking, stopped talking, and just stared.

  “How....?” Nikki began.

  “She took a drug that keeps vampires awake by day,” Roxy told the kids. “It’s not good for her, and she knows it.”

  “I believe Nikki was speaking to me, Roxanne.”

  “Makes them grumpy as hell too,” Roxanne added. “Tiptoe around her today.”

  Nikki came closer, tipping her head sideways to inspect my face. “Your eyes are huge.”

  “The better to watch over you with, my dear,” I said, and she smiled, recognizing the line from a storybook I had read to her.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck. “I’m very glad you’re back,” she said.

  I hugged her, buried my face in her hair and inhaled her scent. I had missed her terribly. And when she stepped away, I went and hugged the boys too, giving them no choice in the matter.

  “Where is Roland?” Gareth asked.

  “He has to stay away a bit longer. We haven’t got him fixed yet, but we’re closer than before. He asked me to tell you that he loves you and misses you very much and that we’ll all be together again very soon.”

  Ramses sighed heavily, and I felt the disappointment in him. It was a good sign and yet I hated seeing it. “Don’t be sad, Ramses. We’ve made good progress.”

  “I’m not sad, I’m hungry. Where’s breakfast?” Though he tried to sound stern, I thought he might be kidding a little bit.

  “Breakfast is in the kitchen, kids,” Roxanne said, “because God forbid you should miss twelve hundred or so calories every four hours on the dot. You must burn through ‘em like hummingbirds.”

  Roxanne herded the children toward the kitchen, and I went too. I wanted to observe her cooking methods. It had been a great many years since I’d had to feed a human. Pandora, yes, but raw meat, and the occasional human villain, required very little preparation.

  Roxanne put bacon into a pan to sizzle. Then she cracked a dozen eggs into a large bowl, splashed in some milk, added salt and pepper, and whipped it with a wiry contraption.

  “Where are Maxine and Lou?” Nikki asked, taking a seat at the kitchen’s center island.

  “They’re going to try to get a look at the files in a real estate office,” I explained as Roxanne poured the egg mixture into a hot skillet and sent me a look of censure. “I must tell them the truth, Roxanne. I know it’s not the way mortals raise their young. But perhaps it should be. They need to know.” Then I put my hands on Nikki’s shoulders, standing behind her. She was sitting at the kitchen’s center island on a stool. “Dr. Sarah Bouchard has come to town.”

  “Dr. Bouchard?” Nikki asked, twisting her head around to stare up at me with wide eyes. “I know her from the ship. She’s here because of us, isn’t she? She’s come to take us back.”

  “Perhaps. But I’m not going to let her have you.”

  “That’s why you stayed awake today. In case she comes.”

  I nodded. “And if she tries to take you, children, it’s all right to kill her. This person is a dangerous, deadly, evil being who should not be allowed to live. She has harmed many vampires. Many humans, as well.”

  Nikki looked at the boys. Silent messages were exchanged. Messages I could not hear.

  “I think this would be a good time for you to tell me what your powers are, children. I know you can all run fast and jump high. You have reflexes and flexibility and grace such as I have never seen. I know you can sense each other and read the thoughts of others. Nikki, I know you have the ability to mimic any magical act you see me perform. And Gareth, I know you have the power to heal. Do you have any other abilities that you’ve discovered since you’ve been free?”

  Roxanne was putting out plates, setting them down rather hard to express her disapproval of my mothering skills. I didn’t care. I would train these children for combat if it would keep them out of DPI’s clutches.

  “No,” Nikki said.

  “No,” Gareth agreed. And they both looked at Ramses.

  Roxanne paused with a bowl of the fluffy yellow eggs in one hand and a platter of bacon in the other, looking from Ramses to me and back again.

  Ramses looked uncomfortable, then stood up and took the bowl and platter from Roxanne, setting them on the table. “I’m starving.” He sat again and started filling his plate.

  He didn’t want to tell me. He still didn’t trust me, I realized. And it hurt.

  “Ramses, darling, it’s time for you to tell me. It’s time for you to trust me.”

  “Dr. Bouchard told us never to trust a vampire,” he said. He lifted his eyes and locked them onto mine.

  “Then look into my mind, child. Look into my heart when I tell you, I would give my life to protect you. This woman is coming for you.”

  “She is our mother,” Ramses blurted.

  “No!” Nikki stood up, angry. “Rhiannon is my mother. Dr. Bouchard hurt us. Made us hurt them—” this with an angry jab in my direction.

  “But she’s the one who made us, Nikki,” Ramses said. “You know the story as well as I. She took pieces from super-humans and put them together to make us. We wouldn’t be alive without her.”

  I knew just by the way the words were put together, that they were not coming from Ramses. They had been taught to him by someone else. Indoctrination, seven years of it, would take time to overcome. I tried not to allow my feelings to be hurt, but they were hurt all the same.

  I held up a hand when Nikki would have responded.

  “You’re right, Ramses,” I said. “That
’s exactly how you came to be. What you do not know is that the super-humans Dr. Bouchard told you about were The Chosen.”

  “I don’t know what that is,” he said. But he was listening. I could see he wanted me to convince him.

  “The Chosen are people who have a very rare kind of blood. When we vampires were human, we all had it too. All vampires did. Only The Chosen can become vampires. If they don’t, they die very young.”

  “Well, not all of them,” Roxanne said. Then she eyed the children and said, “She’s telling you the truth of it, kids. You and the vampires—you’re family. You’re blood relatives. That Dr. Bouchard, she only wants to use you as weapons to kill people she doesn’t like or understand. She’d have you back in those cages so fast your little heads would spin, if she had her way. And I’ll tell you something else, Rhiannon and the others, all of us, we’re bound and determined to protect you from her. So Ramses, if you can do something to help, it’s high time you told us.”

  Ramses looked at his siblings, first Gareth, who nodded, then Nikki, who said, “Tell them.”

  He closed his eyes. “Come outside. You don’t want me to do it in here.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I cannot go outside. It’s daylight, my child.”

  Roxanne said, “Never mind, I’ve got you covered. You can watch from the computer screen. I’ll take my phone and Facetime you.” She nodded at the kids. “Eat your breakfast, so we can see what your brother’s got in store for us.”

  The children gobbled their breakfasts with abandon, including cinnamon rolls I had smelled but not seen that Roxanne must have baked earlier. I noticed the way Pandora, who was on the children’s heels everywhere they went, positioned herself beside Nikki. Nikki gave the cat a bite for nearly every one she took herself. My sleek panther was, I noticed for the first time, developing a bit of a paunch.

  When they finished their breakfast, I sat at the computer and Roxanne opened the proper program for me, then used her cell phone to connect to the computer. I could see her face on the screen.

  “Are you there?” she asked. “I can’t tell from my end. Screen’s just showing me an empty desk chair.”

  “Yes, I see you.”

  “Good. Wait there.” She and the children trooped back across the house and out the glass rear doors, with Pandora trotting alongside. The sun flashed onto the screen, and I backed away from the computer, instinctively shielding my face with my arm. But no, I was indoors with only artificial light.

  As I watched, the view broadened to include the three children standing near the gardens on the grassy back lawn of Maxine and Lou’s home. There was a bubbling fountain amid the late fall flowers, mums, black-eyed Susans and miniature sunflowers.

  “Okay,” Ramses said. “Watch the water.” He took a deep breath, seemed to focus, then lifted his hands skyward, and swept them in circles. I saw his hair moving in the sudden breeze, and heard Roxanne say, “Wait, is he doing that?”

  “Doing what?” I whispered as my boy pulled an invisible something down, then shoved it toward the bubbling fountain.

  “The wind–hell look, look.”

  The camera panned to the fountain as a spiral of water took shape and then rose, forming a spout that stood spinning all on its own.

  “Well I’ll be dipped,” Roxy said.

  Then the vortex whirled faster, and then, all at once, the water stilled, and I realized as I blinked at the screen, that it was frozen. Suspended in the air, a glittering ice crystal sculpture of a whirlpool defied gravity. And then Ramses pulled his hands down, and the thing fell into the fountain, breaking into ice chunks. Ramses relaxed, looking proud.

  I wanted to run outside and hug him, so filled with pride I nearly burst. And then I heard Nikki saying, “Do me! Do me!”

  “Put the phone near him, Roxanne,” I said. Then as she did, I said, “Ramses, can you do what you did to the water, to people?”

  He nodded at the screen. “I can make the wind pick them up and move them wherever I want. I’ve done it to Nikki and Gareth. I did it with Sheena once, and she’s as big as a grown-up. But I’ve never tried to turn humans to ice before.”

  “What about with...with vampires?” I asked. I knew it wasn’t a question he would want to answer. “It’s not your fault, and I won’t be angry. But I know Gareth’s power will not work on vampires, and I want to know if yours does.”

  He lowered his head. “They break into pieces, just like the water did,” he said.

  “It’s all right, darling. It’s all right. I’m so impressed with you, Ramses. I’ve never known anyone who could truly command the north wind with enough precision to freeze things. You are gifted, and that’s the truth, my child. It’s a gift, what you can do.”

  As I said the words and watched Ramses flush with pleasure and pride, I sensed the return of Maxine and Lou, and said, “Best come inside now, Children. We need to be careful.”

  “Okay, Rhiannon,” Ramses said, and I heard him tell the others to come inside as he disconnected. He saw himself as the leader among them. I’d named him well.

  Maxine entered the front door as the children entered the back. She handed me a sheet of paper, and said, “You’re welcome.”

  I arched my brows. “For…?” And then I looked at the paper in my hand. There were three addresses written on its face, and I felt excitement rush into me. “Bouchard?”

  “Those are all of the places that real estate agency has handed over to customers in the last three days. All of them rentals, and the first two are apartments. I’m betting on the beach house.”

  “You truly are a brilliant snoop, Maxine.”

  “Hey, what am I, chopped liver?” Lou asked.

  I smiled at him. “You are the genius who is going to work out how to get me there in daylight without roasting me in the process.”

  He blinked twice, then shook his head. “Um, no. Look, sundown’s in five hours. You’re just gonna have to wait.”

  “Waiting is not my strong suit,” I told him, rising as did my temper.

  “Rhiannon,” Maxine said, “Come on, what good would it do you to go there? It’s a beach house. The view is the whole point. It’ll be entirely windows. Even inside, you’d be exposed to sunlight. Wait for night, when you’ll have the advantage.”

  “Why you mortals insist on thwarting my every effort is beyond—”

  “You were right, Roxy,” Nikki said from behind me. “That daytime drug does make them grouchy.”

  I bit back any further remarks, though it was like holding back an angry panther, “My Nikki is right, it is the drug. I’m sorry. Thank you for bringing me this information. At sundown, we go. That will be soon enough.”

  “Good.”

  “Good,” I said. “Come children, we’re going to the basement where there’s room to work.”

  “What are we working on,” Nikki asked.

  “Hand to hand combat,” I said. Then I pointed a long forefinger at her, my nail just touching the middle of her forehead. “Do not hurt me.”

  She smiled. “I’ll try really hard not to.” Then she raced ahead of us to the basement.

  * * *

  By the time Tamara and Christian rose, I was feeling as sensitive as an exposed nerve, but I tried to squelch that as Tamara greeted me with an awkward hug, all of her usual warmth and no small amount of concern.

  You look haggard. Are you all right? She asked, her words for me alone.

  No. I admitted it for the first time, and as soon as I thought the word, a rush of emotion seemed to flood out of me. My throat tightened, and my back bent with the power of the sobs I fought to hold inside.

  Tamara rubbed my back rapidly, as if she could brush my grief away. We will find a solution. Somehow.

  I nodded and straightened, blinking my eyes dry. “Come,” I said. “We have much to do. While you rested, Maxine and Lou brilliantly found Dr. Bouchard’s most likely location.”

  “Yes, we did,” Max said. “Here, we can take
a look.” She gathered us around a computer and with a few clicks, pulled up a satellite image showing the beach house where we suspected Dr. Sarah Bouchard was staying while in town. I stared at the thing until my eyes watered, but could see no sign of human presence. The curtains were drawn. No movement came from behind them.

  “I do not believe she’s there,” I said, disappointment heavy in my tone.

  “Could be sleeping,” Tamara said. “It’s nighttime and she’s human.”

  “The only way to be sure is to pay her a visit,” Maxine said. “And yet we can’t all go and leave the children unattended. They are her target, after all.”

  “You’re right, Maxine. If Bouchard is not there, she’s most likely on her way here.”

  “She doesn’t know where here is,” Lou Malone said firmly. “And I’d just as soon keep it that way.”

  I was dying to get my hands on the so-called doctor. But as eager and restless as I had been today, now that the time had arrived, I felt an intuitive and overwhelming sense that I should remain right there. Close to my children.

  “I’ll go,” Tamara said. “You should stay behind to protect the children.”

  I shot the brave young thing a look. “Not alone, Tamara. It’s too dangerous. We should always be in pairs when DPI is involved.”

  She nodded, and closing her eyes, called out to her husband mentally. Eric? Are you awake? How are things with Roland?

  I awaited a reply, and when none came, I wondered whether Eric had spoken to Tamara privately, directing his thoughts only to her.

  But then I saw the worried frown marring her pretty brow, and realized she’d had no response.

  “Tamara?” I began.

  “Something’s wrong.” She swept her gaze around the room, turning in a full circle. “Rhiannon, I think we should move the children.”

  “Move them? That’s exactly the opposite of what we should do. They’re safe here.”