The Horned Mage: Books 1-5

by Hayden Harper

  “I’m here though,” I said. “What’s going on, Sarah? How can I help?”

  “There’s nothing you can do,” she snapped. She pulled her knees to her chest and hid her face between them. “There’s nothing anyone can do.”

  “We won’t know unless we tr—”

  “Dammit, Caleb there’s nothing you can do!” I don’t think she meant to scream because she seemed shocked afterword. As if she couldn’t believe that she’d just done what she’d done.

  She bit her lower lip and, trembling, forced herself to meet my eyes. “I’m sorry. But really, you wasted your time coming.”

  “So everything’s fine then?” I asked.

  “Yes. No. No it’s not, but there’s nothing anyone can do about it, okay.”

  Slowly, I nodded. “Okay. What movies are out? I haven’t been to the movies since…damn, August.”

  Going to the movies had been one of the first things we realized we liked doing together. Every time she came home from college we made it a point to go see something.

  “You want to go to the movies?” She scoffed.

  “What I want is to spend some time with my sister,” I said. “I mean, I came all this way and apparently there’s nothing else I can do, so I’ll just be your little brother.” And get you the hell out of this house for a few hours.

  “How’s that sound?” I asked.

  She brushed her eyes with the heel of her hand, though I hadn’t seen any tears there. “Give me a bit to get dressed. I’m not going out like this.”

  # # #

  I couldn’t tell you what we went to see. If it was fun or loud or action packed or the dumbest thing to ever hit the silver screen. I bought popcorn and soda and watched a transformation come over Sarah. Changing into jeans and a blouse, fixing up her hair and putting on makeup, had all done something to her. She stood straighter, walked with more surety. The further we got from the house, the more pronounced the difference became. By the time the movie was done, the weeping girl who’d been huddled in her bedroom was gone and in her place was the badass who was going to be a Naval Doctor and screw what her dad said.

  We pulled out of the parking lot, laughing at something or another, when she suddenly got quiet. Her eyes were still a little red, but she looked better. Gorgeous, not just pretty. And a lot more like a person instead of a broken doll.

  “Thank you, Caleb,” she said as she drove us. “Thank you, for coming all the way down here, for taking me out like this, for…for being you.”

  I blushed. No lie. Like a little girl. “Think nothing of it.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I know you’re hurting for money. This wasn’t nothing. And…and you’ve done more than you know to help me today.”

  My smile faded at her next words.

  “But I need you to leave when we get back. Go back to Woodhurst and don’t come back.”

  What the hell? “Screw that.”

  “Caleb, listen to me. I—

  “No, you listen. You are the strongest woman I know. You have always been there for me.”

  “Caleb—”

  “It’s my turn to be there for you, okay? So whatever you need, it’s yours. And you’re not getting rid of me.”

  “Caleb,” She shouted. “I’m pregnant.”

  I froze. Utterly and completely. I think my mouth might have actually fallen open.

  I blinked and shook myself back to life. My mouth was running before I could even process the words racing through my brain. “Um, congratulations. I mean, that’s terrifying and I support whatever decision you make, but, yeah, congrats. I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”

  She pulled up in front of the house, not looking at me. “I don’t.”

  Okay, that couldn’t be good. “Damn.”

  She sighed. “Yeah. Damn.”

  We started to get out of the car and then froze again. The driveway wasn’t empty like it was supposed to be.

  Albert was home early.

  Chapter Two

  I did not want to be there. I mean, I knew the asshole might put in an appearance but I really wanted to keep our contact to a minimum. In hindsight I really should have thought this out a bit more and mentally prepared myself for my adoptive father. In my defense, my mind had been solely on Sarah since she called for help. The possibility of actually seeing Albert hadn’t really registered with me. Maybe I could just drop Sarah off? I dismissed the thought as soon as I had it. I wasn’t going to be that kind of asshole. She needed support and there was no way her father, the man who kept her bedroom looking like it belonged to a five year old despite the fact that she was a grown ass woman, was reacting well to her pregnancy.

  Her hand found mine and squeezed. Hard. Not a little affectionate squeeze but the next thing to a death grip. I could smell her fear, sour and sweet on the air, see it in the quiver of her taut neck. My mouth watered. I swallowed and shoved that horrible bit of uncomfortableness out of my head and focused on her. I shifted my hand in her grip and gave a gentle, hopefully reassuring, squeeze.

  She took her eyes off the parked car and met my gaze. She looked like a sick deer that had stumbled into the road and suddenly had a truck come upon her. Her breathing was elevated but slowing as she held my eyes and hand.

  I nodded toward the house. “Does he know?”

  Her shoulders gave a spasmodic shake and she barked out a choked laugh. “Yeah, he knows.”

  It must have been bad. We got out of the car and I stepped up beside her, taking Sarah’s hand once more. She blinked, then stared at the connection. I could tell that she took comfort from it but maybe she didn’t want to be comforted right then? While she was making up her mind about whether or not to remove her hand from mine, the front door open.

  Albert Marshal was an unassuming man as pale as his daughter—porcelain skin, platinum hair, icy blue eyes, he was even kind of pretty. Looking between the two of them there could be no doubt that they were related, even with his delicate looking spectacles and necktie. Like his daughter, I knew that his apparent delicacy hid a considerable amount of strength. The man could swing a mean belt.

  Those pale eyes settled over us, taking in Sarah’s conflicted expression and our held hands, and froze over. Albert was not one of those men who raged with fire when they were angry. He got cold and quiet and exercised his anger with furious precision and speed.

  He didn’t acknowledge me other than that look as we approached, asking Sarah, “What’s he doing here?”

  She looked into his face but didn’t meet his eyes. “I asked him to come.”

  Albert made a face, as if his daughter had just farted. “I see. Where were you? I came home early to surprise you and you weren’t here.”

  She shrugged. “Caleb took me to the movies.”

  “You didn’t text or leave a note.”

  I rolled my eyes. His gaze snapped to me. It was…he’d always been cold to me. I knew his wife had been the one that had wanted to adopt me and I never really knew why he’d gone along with it. This expression though, it was hostile and completely disproportionate to a disrespectful eye roll.

  I don’t consider myself a particularly irreverent person. I try to be respectful. Especially where Albert was concerned. Going to college without his support was the most rebellious thing I’d ever done. It had only been in the last few months—since I’d broken my curse, specifically—that I’d begun to throw my weight around.

  I met Albert’s eyes and held them. I’d never been able to do that before. “She needed to get out for a bit.”

  “And we thought that we’d be back before you got home,” Sarah said in a rush. “We didn’t want to bother you at work.”

  Right. I’d been very concerned about bothering him at work. Not. Maybe I should have been. Albert had always been controlling, but he’d never been like this.

  “I brought you Chinese food from Yang and Yin’s,” he said, looking away from me.

  Yang
and Yin’s had always been Sarah’s favorite. Her face didn’t light up though. Instead she squeezed my hand and blew out a relieved breath. “Oh good, I was worried there wouldn’t be enough for Caleb, but Yang and Yin’s portions are huge.”

  She stepped inside, pulling me behind her. Albert moved aside reluctantly and followed us to the kitchen. Having him to my back made my spine tingle. It was like turning your back on a wolf—you just didn’t do it. Why the hell was I getting so many bad vibes from him all of a sudden? I’d lived in his house since I was thirteen and never got this from him. It was as if a thousand, miniscule things had been altered, and the collective result created an entirely new man.

  The kitchen table was elaborately spread with dishes of Chinese food arranged around burning candles and a bouquet of flowers with baby paraphernalia scattered about. A little toddler swing sat off beside the seat that was clearly meant to be Sarah’s, along with bags of diapers and baby toys. Baby bottle shaped confetti had been spread everywhere.

  “Did I walk into a baby shower?” I asked. Weren’t those usually strictly girl things?

  Sarah didn’t say anything. She couldn’t stop looking at the swing.

  “I know it will be a while before the baby’s old enough to play with some of this,” Albert said. “But it never hurts to be prepared. I might have gone a little overboard.”

  “A little,” I muttered.

  That table set up almost looked like something out of a romantic comedy. Was he trying to create a daddy-daughter date? Seemed like he’d pushed a little too far for that. Maybe he was just panicking. After all, he’d never done well with change and his daughter was about to be a mother.

  There were only two chairs so I pulled up another from a different table. It didn’t match the rest.

  We all took our seats.

  “You don’t like it,” Albert said to Sarah.

  She loaded up her plate with Chinese food. “It’s very nice.”

  “I don’t like not knowing where you are,” he said.

  She loaded more Chinese food.

  “Sarah,” he leaned forward. “Do you have anything to say?”

  “Pretty sure she already said it,” I said with a shrug.

  Albert made a sharp turn to look at me. Once I would have withered under that look. That was before this semester. I’d faced down werewolves and vampires and a giant snake the size of this house. Albert’s domineering gaze simply didn’t hold so much weight by comparison. And maybe, just maybe, I’d grown a little since leaving this house.

  “She already explained where she was and why she didn’t get in touch with you. Sounded pretty reasonable to me.” I shrugged and loaded up some sesame chicken.

  “You know how I feel about disrespect, Caleb,” he said.

  I set my plate down, squared my shoulders, and gave him my undivided attention. “No one is being disrespectful, sir. We’ve explained our actions. You seem to be fishing for the same information we’ve already given you. What would you like to hear, sir?”

  Albert took off his spectacles, pulled out a handkerchief and cleaned the lenses. “I would like to hear, an apology and a promise that it won’t happen again, young man.”

  “If Sarah was a child I would agree with you,” I said with a shrug. “She’s an adult.”

  “That may be,” said Albert, returning his not spotless spectacles to his face. “But she is still my child. And that is my grandchild in her belly.”

  Sarah flinched. I started paying more attention to her. She was strung tight, like a guitar string ready to be plucked. Fear rolled off of her. Was our conversation upsetting her that much?

  “As long as Sarah’s living under my roof, she will abide by my wishes. And you will both respect my authority.”

  The cool way he delivered both of these statements brooked no argument . Or at least, that was the intent. Instead his words slithered under my skin and stoked my temper. I was my own authority now. Sarah and I were adults. We didn’t need his roof or his authority. Cue South Park joke.

  “Then perhaps we should exercise more autonomy,” I said.

  He froze. He’d never gone completely still like that before. Was he even breathing? I didn’t care.

  “Neither of us are your dependents anymore,” I said. “If Sarah is hard up for housing while on maternity leave or whatever she is welcome to stay with me.”

  How that would work with Victoria and Lexus I didn’t know but we could figure that out later. We would make it work.

  “Caleb,” Sarah said, voice barely more than a whisper. “Stop it.”

  I didn’t stop it.

  “You seem to have forgotten what respect means,” Albert said. “You sit there eating my food and telling me how you’re going to live your lives?”

  “Yes.” I glanced at my plate. “And not to put too fine a point on it but I haven’t actually eaten anything.”

  Sarah made a little groan.

  “Get out,” he said.

  I cocked my head. That was unexpected but maybe it shouldn’t have been.

  I stood and looked at Sarah, getting ready to let her know she could come back to Woodhurst with me, and froze. The confidence I’d felt during Albert and my confrontation fled at the sight of her. She’d pulled her knees up into her chest, curling into a ball on her chair, and refused to look at anyone.

  Everything that had pulled the strong and capable woman I’d known out of her shell that afternoon had been undone and she was back to this, the state I’d first found her in. What on earth was going on? She hiccupped, then began to cry.

  Albert stood up. “Get. Out.”

  I did. But I didn’t leave once I was out. I walked and thought about what I’d seen. There was no way I was leaving Sarah here, alone with that man. Something was off. Maybe something always had been but it was somehow more obvious to me now because of the situation. Woodhurst would have to wait. My phone was almost dead when I pulled it out to text the girls where I was and that I’d be staying another night. Almost as soon as the text went off, the screen went dark. Figured.

  I had no charger, and no other means of charging it, and after all that I’d paid to get here and take care of Sarah, I really couldn’t afford a hotel or to buy a spare. But that was alright, I had a place in mind that would solve my problems nicely.

  Once dark had settled in, I snuck into the backyard and made my way to the shed in the back. It had started its life out as a storage shed and tornado shelter but the shelter had been filled in and the shed renovated into a home office, complete with Wi-Fi and air conditioning.

  Albert didn’t like anyone going in here. Too many of his client’s confidential files were here and he didn’t want anyone to see them. He didn’t know that I’d found the hiding spot for the key to the shed years ago. I didn’t like coming out here, but there was no way he’d be using his office-shed before heading into work in the morning. The shed was always an after work stop, not a before.

  Key in hand, I slipped inside. The place hadn’t changed. A carpet to add warmth and bookshelves lining every wall except for the one where he’d set up a work desk with a computer and filing cabinets on either side. I checked the desk drawers and found a spare key to something, a pad of paper, a flash drive, more pens than I could count, and several notes that I ignored—no phone charger though, which was unfortunate, and the computer was passcode protected. I tried a few different things but eventually gave up.

  The hard floor wasn’t exactly comfortable but it was better than sleeping outside or under a bridge. I’d only done the latter once on a dare because some asshole had said my antlers made me a pussy. Something about deer being afraid of everything. I couldn’t even remember his name.

  I glanced once more at my dead phone and hoped the girls were okay and wouldn’t panic too hard. Considering everything we’d been through together, not hearing from me would probably scare them. I’d have to find a way to get in touch in the morning.
r />   I settled in and fell asleep.

  Chapter Three

  I awoke to the sound of footsteps outside; the slight whisper-crush of grass. I shouldn’t have been able to hear it. My ears were not nearly keen enough to register that kind of sound. I certainly shouldn’t have been able to tell that the footsteps were familiar. I had absolutely no basis for comparison! I didn’t lay around in fields listening to people walk around. I should not have been able to recognize Victoria and Lexus—but I did.

  I sat upright, surging to the door in an awkward scramble, and threw it open. Lexus threw herself into me, knocking me off my precarious balance so that we toppled over onto the carpeted floor of the shed in a tangle of limbs. Victoria calmly stepped through the door and over us, closing the door behind her. She looked down and raised her eyebrow, a bemused expression on her face as Lexus burrowed her face into my neck.

  I hadn’t showered since before leaving Woodhurst so I couldn’t imagine I smelled all that good. Maybe it was a werewolf or cu sith thing. Or maybe it had to do with everything we’d been through over the last few weeks. Her stepfather had come to town with at least one, possibly two, poltergeists and a glowing vampire that had raped her mother and forced the pair of us to have sex. I was still confused about how I felt about the whole thing. But Lexus had become very clingy since. I didn’t blame her.

  I offered Victoria a “what are you going to do?” grin and wrapped an arm securely around Lexus. Her body melted, as if someone had been running a current of electricity through her and had just turned it off. She draped over me, melding to my form, and breathed out a contented sigh.

  She lifted her head and gave me a grimace. “This is kind of pathetic, isn’t it?”

  Victoria nodded and held up her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. “Just a little.”

  Lexus let out another sigh and pulled back but didn’t break contact with me. “I’m not apologizing for it.”

  “I’m not asking you too,” I said, and kissed her forehead. When had I fallen in love with her? I admired the green of her eyes for a moment, a stupid look on my face, before turning my dopey gaze on Victoria. I think I loved her too. I certainly felt a powerful kinship with her. And I knew that we both loved Lexus, so there was that.