“Is that a trick question?” I retorted, then chucking her under the chin, I carried on, “I think you need to tell us what your great-great-grandmother had to say.”
After gnawing on her bottom lip for a second, she murmured, “We must visit the first families before we attend the Assembly.”
“Shit. I just told my father—”
“He’ll have to wait,” Matt interjected. “It’s not like we can ignore someone speaking to us from beyond the grave, Seph.” He scrubbed a hand over his hair. “Your grandmother knows where they are, and Linford will be able to take us. Maybe if we work fast, we’ll be able to get this done within the day?”
She hitched a shoulder. “I have no way of knowing how much time it will take. I just know that I can’t go to the Assembly without having visited the first families first.”
I cut my brothers a look. “I think it’s time to get this show on the road.”
Ten
Matthew
It would have taken a lot of convincing, I’d seen that from the firmness in Gabriella’s face, but the second Riel had mentioned the first families, it had been the equivalent of, ‘open sesame.’
I’d never seen someone’s expression morph so quickly.
From stern resolve to outright astonishment, the fact that Riel knew about the first families at all seemed to be enough to make Gabriella believe that her own grandmother had somehow been in contact with Riel.
Of course, both her grandparents had been stunned by our words, but that was nothing compared to our reaction to them. Linford was young once more thanks to Riel’s touch, and paired with Gabriella? It was weird as Sol to be looking at a couple who were in our fucking age group for guidance on a matter such as this.
We were raised with the knowledge that the Elders knew best. That was why our Assembly was full of wrinkly-assed, crotchety old bastards, after all. So knowing that the wisdom of a lifetime was housed within a couple who looked younger than the rest of my troupe?
Mind fuck.
Of the epic variety.
When we found ourselves in Norway an hour later, I had to admit to a fondness of using portals as a mode of transportation. No pollution, swift, efficient, and free? What more could anyone else ask for?
Though we spent most of our time in autonomous flight, even we needed airplanes occasionally—just as we had to get to Honolulu—and no one needed the backlog of traffic, the endless lines, and waiting at an airport.
Sol, Linford could earn himself a fortune as a portal chauffeur. I knew I’d be willing to pay him. Sheesh.
The town was odd. Not in an ugly way, just like nothing I’d ever seen before. As a member of a shunned family, I’d done ridiculously little traveling outside of the States, and this place was both alien and yet reminiscent of somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Lots of green, gray skies that were bogged down with clouds that moved sluggishly across the sky, and plenty of low-lying buildings that were all a kind of bright maroon.
It was no concrete jungle, however, and that I did appreciate.
In the distance, I could see the houses, and while there was a road close by, Linford had brought us to a parking lot for some kind of business. Since we were to the side, it didn’t raise suspicions by us just popping up out of nowhere, I couldn’t see what it was. There was a pole out front, though, and a red flag flew in the wind.
“What’s a Coop?” Riel quizzed, her head tilted to the side as she eyed the flag too. There was a nasty wind brewing and the Coop part was the only legible words I could read as well.
Daniel squinted. “I think it says ‘marked’ underneath. Maybe it’s a store?”
“It’s a grocery store,” Gabriella answered. As our attention fluttered her way, we saw that her hands were suddenly coated in the gaseous blue glow of her magic.
For a second, I tensed at the sight, certain this was a trap, that she’d brought us here to do us harm. Then, I felt instantly guilty when my shorts and tee were replaced with heavy-duty jeans, a Henley, and a coat that cut off the bitter wind. My sneakers were replaced with boots too, and the second I was covered, I felt instantly better. I could have magicked the outfit up myself, but wasn’t about to complain—though the quantity of magic I was tithed had increased since I’d become a warrior, it wasn’t an endless source. I tended to use it frugally, most of it spent on flying and training.
Studying Riel, who sported a similar outfit but with a feminine cut, I nodded at her grandmother and murmured, “My thanks.”
Gabriella shrugged. “No need.” She tipped her face back and as the wind buffeted her, a smile curved her lips—the first since Riel had told her what she’d learned from her tatarabuela.
I guessed it figured considering she was a wind witch.
Like a lightbulb pinging on, a thought occurred to me, and I blurted out, “I thought you helped with the Bay of Pigs invasion.”
She didn’t open her eyes. “I did.”
“How?”
“Used the wind, of course.”
“Huh,” Seph mumbled. “I figured you’d used water.”
“I did, but the wind was the catalyst. You can’t create a storm without it, after all.” Her eyes opened, and she pinned me with her stare. She looked so much like my Virgo mate for a second that it was uncanny, then when she blinked, I saw the wisdom buried within those depths, a wisdom that came from a long life lived. Maybe not well, maybe not even happily, but certainly lived. “You have a problem with this?”
“No, of course not.” I shrugged. “Just surprised, that’s all.”
Linford grunted. “Let’s get a move on. It’s getting cold.”
“True,” she mused. “Odd, really. We look like we’re young again but are still sensitive to certain things.”
Riel frowned. “Like what?”
“Nothing really. Not in the grand scheme of things,” Linford said dryly. “But I can feel the weather in my knees and my back is starting to ache.” His lips twisted. “The usual just to a lesser degree.”
Brow puckering harder, Riel mused, “I wonder why.”
“Because you somehow gave us the fountain of youth, Riel, but that doesn’t mean you gave us a complete overhaul,” Gabriella stated around a soft laugh as she curved her arm around her shoulder. “We should get going. This is where we usually land.”
“You come here often?” I asked, as we rounded the side of the building and came across the biggest clue to what the business was—image after image of produce and groceries.
“Often enough to know the way by heart,” Linford reasoned.
As a car trundled past, Seph laughed. “They really do all drive Volvos.”
I rolled my eyes. “Volvos aren’t Norwegian. It’s a Swedish company.”
He shrugged. “Either way, it figures.”
Daniel snorted. “Does it? Does it really?”
Riel laughed, but Seph flipped us the bird as we trudged down to the curb. There was nothing more than a grass verge separating us from the road itself, but it was quiet. Even the parking lot of the store had no vehicles there.
To our right, there were several plateaus of flat rock that made me think they’d chiseled straight into it to craft the road itself.
Curious now as our feet stepped into a thick and lush grass that was somehow crisper than our own—odd adjective to be sure, but that was how it crunched underfoot—I stared around at the endless vista of fir trees in varying shapes and sizes and inquired, “Where are we? Precisely, I mean.”
“A little island just off the peninsula,” Linford explained. “It’s called Hitra. We’re in Fillan.”
“And the water first family lives here?” Daniel questioned.
Gabriella nodded as we all fell into single file and began to walk down the road. “Sí. Wouldn’t make sense to put a fire family here, would it? Not when half the year the place is covered in snow.”
“That’s how it works?” Riel queried quietly. “Each family is tied to the land?”
“S
í. That isn’t to say we don’t use all the elements. It doesn’t work that way. We’re wind elementals, and yet, historically, we’ve had a brilliant green thumb, and I use the water and wind to help drive storms away,” Gabriella reasoned.
“What makes you one over the other then?” Daniel grilled.
“An affinity. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
My eyes were glued on the back of Riel’s head. “That’s why you could use it to help you train back at the Academy.” Sol help me—how could a handful of days feel like a year ago?
She twisted around to nod at me. “Seems so.”
I tilted my head to the side and took advantage of the fact she was right there—in front of me. “You okay?”
“Will be when this is done.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Why? Are you concerned?”
Seph snorted. “I know I am. We’re wandering into the unknown without a plan.”
“Just because instinct cannot be quantified, just because the five senses cannot justify it or credit it with merit, does not mean that it shouldn’t be trusted,” Linford intoned sharply, his voice free and clear of the tremor of age.
I cut him a look. “You’re right, but that doesn’t mean we’re not on a fool’s errand.”
“We are all fools for the Gods,” Gabriella replied, her voice moody now. “We fulfill their errands and hope that we fulfill them in a manner which suits them. That’s all we can do.
“For my abuela to contact Riel tells me that we are on the true path. She had the original vision, after all. She guides us now.”
A dead woman was guiding us.
Great.
It was easy to see that she found comfort in that, but me? I preferred my guidance to be offered by people who were still roaming the land of the living.
That wasn’t to say I didn’t feel bad for doubting, because I did, but I just wasn’t about to put all my faith into a spirit who kept on visiting my mate when she was asleep or unconscious.
As we traipsed around a corner, we found an oddly constructed wooden house. Painted a dark red, it stood out like a beacon. Sitting on the water’s edge, I wasn’t sure how the place wouldn’t flood when the rains came, but considering the witches here were water witches, maybe that’s what they wanted. Or, maybe, they just diverted the water and sheltered themselves from the inundation.
Because that would be pretty fucking nifty, I eyed the crops around the homestead, and wondered if all the houses of the first families were so basic. It was easy to see the people within weren’t rich, and the crops alone told me their garden was for food. The way the earth was tilled was indicative of more magic because it was too perfect for a human hand or even a machine to have arranged.
There were low wooden partitions that separated certain areas from others, and as we approached, the scent of manure told me why.
Bearing down on my nose to evade the stench, I saw the small cluster of pigs and noticed there were a few filthy piglets in the pen.
My lips curved at the sight of their dirty hides and the little squeaks they made, before my gaze drifted over another pen that housed a couple of goats who were gnawing on some grass.
“They’re self-sufficient,” Gabriella murmured softly. “As are all the first families. We know not to depend upon the vagaries of society.”
My brow puckered. “Do you expect the apocalypse or something?”
She snorted. “No. At least, not like anything that belongs in The Walking Dead.”
“You watch that?” Daniel blurted out, his astonishment evident.
My lips curved as she declared, “I’m old, not dead. Even witches appreciate the joys of streaming.”
Daniel snickered at that, but Seph muttered, “What kind of apocalypse then? Or should we just be relieved that zombies aren’t on the cards for us any time soon?”
“What is vital to society today might not be vital for society tomorrow,” she replied calmly, unmoved by his sniping tone. “A hundred years ago, a machine to till this land would have been considered revolutionary. Now, I can access the world’s data banks on a machine the size of my palm. Things change. We evolve. Witches move with the times but retain our connection with the past. We can only remain grounded that way.”
As she finished speaking, the door to the red house opened. It was a squat, one-story structure, but it was long and wide. The only word I could use to describe it was functional really. There wasn’t much artifice or decoration. Even in the opening of the doorway, I could see that, and it was only confirmed when the male stepped out in workworn jeans and a thick flannel shirt. His beard was bright red, his hair more strawberry blond, and his eyes were a glinting green as he took us all in with a glance.
“Blessed be, Lars,” Gabriella called out.
He dipped his chin in greeting. “Blessed be, Gabriella,” he replied, his English perfect, with barely a hint of an accent. “Why are you here?”
She sighed. “It’s time.”
Time? Time for what?
The other male, who was only fifteen or so years older than me, tipped his head to the side. “So soon? I didn’t expect the call in my lifetime.”
“Who knows why the Lady and the Lord time things the way they do?”
His puckered brow relaxed somewhat, and I realized that was as much of an answer as we were going to get.
“You’re younger than I expected,” Lars murmured as he approached us, his head tilted to the side. “When my father passed last month, he told spoke of you and said to expect you—”
She raised a hand to stall him. “My blessings for your family in your time of grief, Lars. Ulric was a good man, and I should have attended his burial but life got in the way.” When he dipped his chin in understanding, she carried on, “The reason for my youth is unusual, but as always, it is tied to Sol and Gaia.”
His narrowed eyes flared at that. “Of course. As is their way.”
It took me a second, dumbass that I was, to figure out he’d been expecting Gabriella to be older, not Riel.
Lars shoved aside my curiosities by raising a hand, then tipped it palm facing upwards. When his magic began to manifest, I canted my head to the side at the cyan color. It was rich yet began drifting into a silvery white that reminded me…
“It’s water!” I blurted out, watching as the color dispersed and sank into the liquid that was whirring above his palm like a puppet on a string.
“Never let it be said you don’t have a brain between your ears,” Linford grumbled, his tone caustic.
My cheeks pinkened at the accusation, but I just hadn’t expected him to do this. I’d seen many things in my life, had seen a shit ton more since Riel had become my mate, but this? This was new.
Gabriella turned to Seph. “You need to touch it.”
Lars tensed. “Why?”
“He was gifted,” she said simply.
Gifted?
Hardly. At least, not to me. And by their unimpressed faces, not to my brothers either.
“What will he do with it?” Lars rasped, eying the offering that rested on his palm.
Gabriella just smiled. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
❖
Seph
The other man eyed me warily as he shoved his hand out in front of me. “Go on then,” he ordered, his face suddenly drawn into a rictus that took me aback.
It wasn’t as easy as ‘go on’ because I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
“Just touch it, Joseph,” Gabriella encouraged, but this Lars guy’s wariness put me on edge.
It was like he expected something to happen, something I was totally in the dark about.
I licked my lips and cut my troupe a look. Riel’s newly silvered eyes were glinting like a new penny as she eyed the water whirl on Lars’ palm, but when she sensed my attention, she turned to me.
“What is it, Seph?” she asked softly, her voice low.
How could I answer? I didn’t know.
“Lars… I’m not go
ing to hurt you.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, boy,” Linford chided, making my eyes round.
“What do you mean? I have no grievance against the witch. I have no desire to harm him.”
“All first families are in peril,” Lars stated firmly. “We have known that since the dawn of our lines. We’re here to serve, and we do so even if it means sacrificing our lives.”
A sudden loud squawk sounded from inside the house. It made me jump, especially because it was in time to Lars’ words. The second he heard it, he winced, his face blanking of all color as resolve settled on him like a heavy weight. Just as acceptance flowed through him, we all processed exactly what the noise was, and the baby began crying.
“You think I could hurt him?” I bit off, angry now as I turned to Gabriella. “He’s a father. I can’t do—”
“He knows his duty,” she rasped, her tone darkening. “Just as I know mine when it’s Riel’s turn to take it from me once my usefulness has come to an end.”
I blinked at her, then at my mate. “Did you know this? You’ve been keeping shit from us—”
“This is exactly why communication is important,” Daniel ground out, evidently just as mad if he was throwing up the past at her.
“What’s to communicate?” Riel retorted, eyes flashing with irritation as she jerked back at my words like I’d hit her. “I know as much as you do!”
“You acted on your own, without any of our input when it came time to deal with the battalion. Then that crap with the AFata—”
Riel’s mouth pursed. “The battalion was coming to capture us. The AFata provided me the means of capturing them, for Sol’s sake! I had to act, I had to deal with them. I wasn’t cutting you out of the process to be unfair,” she ground out. “As for last night, how am I supposed to bring you into my dreams?”
“It wasn’t a dream, querida, but a vision,” Gabriella corrected calmly, and the serenity on her face pissed me off all the more.
Lars burst in, “What’s she talking about, Gabriella? Battalions? AFata? I want no part in any of that.”
The Ascended: The Eight Wings Collection Page 54
