Willow lowered her hands. “It’s done, the house is clean, and there’s a barrier around it. I don’t know how secure it is, without my magic, I can’t see it, but it should stop them for a little while.”
“That should buy us enough time to figure out where Lucas is and how to stop him,” Daniel said.
“There is one more thing I can do to keep you all safe,” Willow said, but Taylor could see from the look on her face that it wasn’t something she wanted to do.
“Let’s go into the study and talk about it,” Daniel said, picking up on the look on her face as well.
Willow shook her head. “I need to say this now before I lose my nerve,” she said, then took a deep breath. “I’m going to leave as soon as I can. if I’m not around, Lucas won’t send any more shadow creatures. You’ve all been so wonderful to me, and it’s not fair to put you in danger.”
There was a long silence as they all stared at Willow. “I can’t stand the thought that one of you might get hurt because of me,” she added.
Taylor felt a rising sense of panic, a feeling deep down that if Willow left, he’d never see her again. “You can’t leave, not alone,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”
Daniel held his hand up. “Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Come into the study and let’s talk about this,” he said, leading the way down the hallway.
Taylor could see from the stubborn look on Willow’s face that she wasn’t going to change her mind and knew that he was going to have to convince her to take him with her. But first, he was going to have to convince his brother, who was clearly not happy with the idea of him going with Willow.
When they got into the study, Daniel sat down behind his desk, and Natasha stood behind him. Willow stood stubbornly in front of the desk, her mind clearly made up, but when Daniel gestured to the chair, she sat down.
“You’ve all been so nice to me, but I really think this is the best thing to do. If I’m not here, the shadows will leave you alone,” she said.
Daniel shook his head. “We can’t know that for sure, and I can’t just let you go out there alone with no way to protect yourself,” he said.
“Where would you go?” Taylor asked, no longer able to stay quiet.
Willow shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll lose myself in the city; it’s not that hard to do, since people don’t pay attention to street people.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Taylor said, jumping to his feet. “You said yourself that the streets were dangerous. Daniel, you can’t let her do this.”
Daniel sighed, “I can’t stop her, but Willow, don’t forget that Lucas found you on the streets.”
Willow nodded. “That’s true, but I wasn’t hiding then.”
Taylor was getting more and more frustrated. “So, you’re just going to spend the rest of your life hiding on the streets?”
Willow shook her head, much calmer than Taylor. “No, only until my magic comes back.”
Taylor wanted to yell, wanted to scream that he loved her and that she had to stay with him, but the calm determination on her face stopped him. He turned to Daniel. “Can’t you do anything to change her mind?”
Chapter Eleven
***Willow***
Willow knew that she couldn’t hold out much longer, but held her ground, her heart hammering in her chest. She had to get away from Taylor and the lure of the passion between them before it was too late, before they were trapped in the cycle of love that had been played out time and time again over the centuries.
Daniel sighed. “Are you sure about this? I don’t like the idea of you being out there all alone. Won’t you let me send someone with you?”
Willow shook her head. “I’m not totally alone. When I needed them, my powers came back. My spirits are still there; even if I can’t talk to them, they’re protecting me,” she said, not daring to look at Taylor who’d begun to pace around the room.
“That’s not enough, and you know it,” Taylor said, walking over to stand in front of her. “I’m going with you.”
Willow shook her head, still unable to meet his eyes, but Daniel spoke first. “That’s not a solution either,” he said. “Taylor, you’ve never shifted, and your dragon gifts are just starting to emerge; even if you could use them, they’re still not reliable.”
“I can protect her just fine without them,” Taylor said stubbornly, turning to his brother. “I’m not letting her leave here without me.”
“Then you’ll have to follow me because I’m leaving here alone,” Willow said, just as stubborn as Taylor.
“Fine, then I’ll follow you,” Taylor said, then turned to Daniel. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“This is not the time for either of you to go wandering around the city,” Daniel said sighing. “We don’t know where Lucas is or what he’s up to, but Willow, you’re clearly in his sights; at least here we’re all together. If you had a good reason to leave, it might be different.”
Willow opened her mouth to repeat all the reasons she’d come up with, but suddenly the air in the room began to stir. It rustled the papers on Daniel’s desk, then the notebook, which had been sitting on the edge of the desk, began to float up into the air.
It rose a few feet, then sailed through the air and came to rest in Willow’s lap. She gasped, stared down at it for a few seconds, then picked it up with shaking hands. There was silence in the room as the notebook flipped open in her hands, and the pages began to turn.
When the pages stopped flapping, the notebook was open to the last few pages, and all she could do was stare at the words written across the top of the page. After a few minutes, she looked up at Daniel, then over at Taylor, who was staring at the book in her hands.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead the room began to fade, her vision became cloudy, and she felt a little dizzy. Shutting her eyes, knowing that her spirits were finally trying to reach her, she cleared her mind and waited, unaware of anything around her.
But the spirits didn’t come, only the word “prophecy” echoed through her mind, repeating over and over until it finally faded out. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath as the feeling of comfort vanished, replaced by confusion and profound loss.
When she opened her eyes, everyone was staring at her, but she was still caught up in the feelings rushing through her. “What’s wrong?” Taylor asked, rushing over to her chair and kneeling next to her. “You looked a little funny there for a minute.”
It took her a second to answer. “I’m fine, but I kept hearing the word prophecy over and over again,” she said. “I don’t know what that means.”
Daniel sighed. “I do.”
He looked up at Natasha, who was still standing behind him. “I think we should tell them now,” she said.
Taylor looked from one to the other, then got to his feet and sank down in the chair next to Willow. “Tell us what?” he asked, reaching out for Willow’s hand.
She took his hand without looking at him but felt comfort wash over her almost instantly. For a second, she thought about letting go of his hand, breaking even that fragile bond between them, but in the end, she couldn’t make herself. Her time with Taylor was limited, and what little comfort she could get from him now would have to last for the rest of her life.
“There’s more to the prophecy than you’ve been told,” Daniel said, then paused for a second. “Even I didn’t know about it until just a little while ago.”
“Were you planning on telling us?” Taylor asked.
Daniel nodded. “I was trying to figure out how that fit into everything before I told you,” he said, pointing at the notebook that was still lying in Willow’s lap.
Willow looked down, only then remembering the notebook was there, then back up at Daniel. “I think you’ve lost me,” she said.
Daniel looked at Taylor. “You tell her what you know, and I’ll fill in the rest.”
Willow could see that Taylor wasn’t happy with his brother, but he too
k a deep breath and said, “We were told that when Daniel was born, a gypsy showed up at the hospital and predicted that Daniel would be the strongest dragon shifter ever born, that he would finally be the one to unite us against the evil dragon shifters and defeat them.”
“You’re talking about Lucas and the league?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
Taylor nodded. “But I guess there’s more,” he said, glaring at his brother.
***Taylor***
Taylor waited for his brother to reply, the anger still lacing his blood and making his heart pound a little faster. As usual, he’d been left out of something important, and it bothered him just as much as it always did. He was expected to give everything to the family and the society, but they still treated him like he was a kid, refusing to trust him.
He’d never understood what was so important about shifting, why he had to shift before he was formally accepted into the Opal Society, especially when he’d done nothing but show his dedication. It was just another one of the council’s stupid laws: laws that didn’t reflect the world today.
He knew that Daniel could see the storm brewing inside him; they’d had this discussion plenty of times. “I only found out about this a little while ago myself,” he said, looking Taylor directly in the eyes, “and besides mom and dad, you’re going to be the only other ones who know.”
“You didn’t tell Adam?” Taylor asked, not quite believing him since Adam knew everything long before he did.
“I didn’t have time before he and Vivian left on their honeymoon, and I didn’t want to spoil their trip,” Daniel said, getting to his feet and slowly pacing back and forth across the room. “I didn’t think it was going to come into play yet, but I think I’m beginning to understand what’s happening.”
Taylor was beginning to get frustrated. “Will you just tell us already.”
Daniel crossed the room and stood in front of Taylor and Willow, then took a second to collect his thoughts. “There was more to the prophecy than we were told; there was a second part that the council refused to let dad repeat,” he said. “They’ve kept it secret all these years, but after Adam married Vivian, he told me.”
Taylor looked over at the notebook, trying to put the pieces together, then it hit him. “This notebook has something to do with all of this, doesn’t it?”
“It supports the prophecy,” Daniel said, then looked directly at Willow. “The second part predicts that I’ll have the help of a witch, a human, and another shifter; that together we’ll unite the magical creatures of the world and save ourselves from destruction.”
Willow looked down at the notebook in her lap. “I’m not the witch you’re looking for,” she said, then picked up the notebook with two fingers and put it back on the desk.
Natasha, who had been standing behind the desk, came around and knelt down next to Willow’s chair. “We think you are,” she said, putting her hand on Willow’s arm, “and so does Michelle.”
Willow turned and looked at her, her face still full of shock. “But I can’t be. I don’t even have my magic. What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know what you're supposed to do, but that notebook came to you. I think you have to figure it out,” Natasha said.
Willow looked at the notebook on the desk, then at Natasha again. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I’m not the right witch. I can’t be,” she said, then stood up and ran from the room.
Taylor stood up to go after her, but Natasha shook her head. “Give her a few minutes; that was a lot to have thrown at her all at once.”
He sat back down in the chair heavily, then realized that he wasn’t exactly sure what Daniel was thinking. “So, tell me how Willow is supposed to help you save us all?”
“I’m not sure. Together we would be far stronger than Lucas, but I can’t help but feel like there’s more to it than that,” he said.
“The notebook,” Taylor said.
Daniel nodded. “If what the professor says is true, we don’t have long before we die out, all of us. Did you read his conclusion?”
Taylor shook his head. “I just paged through it, but I think I know where he’s going with it. He thinks that separating ourselves all these years has made us weaker, not stronger.”
“I think you’d better read the entire notebook,” Daniel said, picking it up and handing it to him. “We’ll talk again when you’re done.”
Taylor took the notebook, found a comfortable chair, and settled in to read. He’d already seen enough of it to know that it was going to be slow going to navigate through the corrections and changes the professor had made. But the science wasn’t hard to understand, and it wasn’t long before he’d reached the empty section where the research should have been.
He thumbed past the section, disappointed that it was empty, but still engrossed in what his old professor had discovered. Genetics had never been his specialty, but he knew enough to see that the man had stumbled on something of great importance not only to the magic world, but the entire human race.
As he finished the conclusion, he was struck first with an overwhelming need to talk to Professor Miller; he had so many questions that for a moment, they all clouded his brain. But then the reality of what his old professor was proposing, and what was happening in his life, suddenly collided, and his heart began to pound.
The pieces of the puzzle began falling into place: his overwhelming need to protect Willow, his deep attraction to her, and most of all, the reason they’d been thrown together. It should have been a relief, but instead, he felt like a pawn in a game he wasn’t participating in, like he had no control of his own life.
He stood up and walked back over to Daniel’s desk and threw down the notebook. “I’m not sure if this is exciting or infuriating,” he said.
“I guess that depends on whether or not you’re planning to fight what’s clearly already started,” Daniel said, giving him an understanding smile. “I’d feel the same way if I suddenly saw my future mapped out like that.”
Chapter Twelve
***Willow***
Willow flew up the stairs and headed for her room, forgetting that it was completely destroyed. But when she opened the door, she remembered, not because of the devastation she saw, but because the room was just as it had been before the books and papers had appeared.
Cautiously, she stepped inside and walked over to the burn mark on the floor. It was still there, the shape of the demon outlined in the black marks. Even more confused, she laid down on the bed and closed her eyes, trying desperately to reach her spirts.
But they were as silent as they’d been since her magic disappeared and she started to cry. She’d been so sure that this was only about her magic, but clearly, she’d become involved in something far bigger than just that, and she wasn’t sure she wanted any part of it.
The pain she’d experienced in her dreams when she’d been separated from Taylor over and over again was still there, but now it was laced with a feeling of helplessness. Fate seemed to have stepped into her life and taken control, giving her both a gift and a curse.
Part of her wanted to turn her back and walk away, but she knew enough about magic to know that running wouldn’t help, not if she was really the witch in the prophecy. She’d denied the possibility almost instantly, but deep down, she knew that it was her, had felt a jolt of reality when Daniel had spoken.
Taking a deep breath to silence the sobs, she focused on calming herself, knowing that she needed to be in control. It was time to stop thinking like she was broken and remember that there was more to her than just being a witch. She was smart and strong, and eventually, her magic would come back; all she had to do was show the spirits that she wasn’t as selfish as they thought.
Sitting up in bed, she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. It was time to examine her options, which when she really thought about it were limited to two choices. Stay here and let things with Taylor come to fruition, have her
heart broken and her life destroyed, or run from her fate and hope that it didn’t catch up with her.
Neither choice appealed to her, and the frustration began to build again. She was clearly stuck, but then it hit her: nothing in that notebook had been proven, it was only a theory. Without the professor’s research, there was nothing to prove that what he’d proposed was true, and for the first time since she’d heard the prophecy, a little hope surfaced.
Prophecies were never a hundred percent accurate. It was possible that the connection they were all seeing wasn’t really there, that she had just gotten herself into a tricky situation. In the back of her mind, she knew that she was just fooling herself, that a bigger force was at work in her life, a force that would have its way no matter what she did.
Thinking about Taylor made her feel warm inside, and she knew that it was a dangerous thing to do, that it might make it all too easy to give in to the demands of the universe and her body. But she wasn’t ready to give in, wasn’t ready to admit that her life was no longer her own, that something bigger had stepped in and changed its course.
Feeling stronger, she again decided that her best plan was to leave the estate, but instead of going to the city, she’d find the professor. It wouldn’t be easy since he hadn’t been seen in years, but he was somewhere out there, and finding him was the only way to answer the questions that plagued her.
Her mind made up, she stretched out on the bed and closed her eyes. A nap was the first step in her plan since she’d have to sneak out that night; it was the only way to be sure that Taylor didn’t follow her as he’d promised to do. Her heart hurt just thinking about being separated from him, but that alone was enough to convince her she was doing the right thing.
She was almost asleep when a knock on the door startled her. “Willow, are you in there?” Natasha’s voice came through the door.
Sighing, she got up from the bed and opened the door, knowing that her nap was going to have to wait. Silently, she let the door swing open and stepped back, “Come in,” she said, waiting for Natasha’s reaction when she saw the room.
Dragon's Flame (Dragons Secret Society Book 3) Page 7
