by Viola Grace
When an archive runs to Grandma's house, she runs straight into the arms of a wolf. Will she stay there?
Melissande has run to a safe haven, but what she doesn't know is that every paranormal being is looking for her. With a new life and exposure ahead of her, it is time to stop being foolish and to strike out on her own.
When the local were pack sets her up as a prize, she has to choose from a selection of the fittest bodies in the country. What is a girl to do?
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Archive
Copyright © 2017 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-4874-1449-8
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc
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Archive
Half-Blood Club Book 4
By
Viola Grace
Dedication
To anyone with a close group of friends. You know, the ones that you can see every week or once a year, and it is like you were never apart.
Carnival: Mel
Melissande got off the bus and walked toward the riot of colour and sound that was the carnival. Her parents had actually encouraged her to get out and to seek some fun.
Going alone took a lot of nerve but she was going to do it. She just had to get through the gates and Mel was positive that thoughts of running home would fade.
The line was short and she walked up and stood behind a tall woman with long, straight black hair.
“Adult and child?” The bored woman manning the booth looked from the dark haired woman to Mel.
The woman shook her head. “One child—I mean one adult, please.”
Mel smiled and put her money down when the other patron had left. “One child.”
She got the band that would let her ride everything and smiled. “Thank you.”
The woman gave her a bland look. “Next!”
Mel ducked her head and bustled past, heading for the midway.
Lights flashed, hawkers called out and folks gathered to play the games. Mel ignored the calls to participate and walked toward the rides.
She looked at the roller coaster and swallowed before getting in line.
The scent of popcorn got stronger as the sun climbed higher in the sky. The summer crowds got thicker and Mel shuffled forward with the others who were waiting.
The dark haired woman was at the front of the line and arguing with the carny managing the ride.
“What do you mean that there are no solo riders? I am not here with friends so does that mean I can’t even enjoy the most basic rides?”
Mel blinked and sighed. Right, no solo riders. She was going to have to settle for the swings.
She turned to leave the line and a hand clamped on her shoulder. She was whipped around and faced the woman with the dark hair and nearly-as-dark eyes.
“You are alone?” The woman’s face was determined, but there was a glimmer of desperation in it.
“Um, yes.”
“Come with me.” The woman hauled her to the front of the line. The waiting riders were bemused by the creature that had Mel in her grip and Mel didn’t blame them. She was striking.
“Here. Two people, front of the ride.” The woman’s voice was smug.
The carny inclined his head and moved the chain to let them on.
The stranger let Mel on first and when the restraint was locked on their shoulders, Mel made the first move.
“My name is Mel, by the way.”
She reached awkwardly to extend her right hand across her body.
“Graylin. Thanks for this. I haven’t been to one of these before. I didn’t realize you needed two people.”
The moment of contact told Mel what she needed to know. Graylin was a shape shifter. The skin was unmistakable.
Graylin smiled as the roller coaster began to click forward. “Magic?”
Mel nodded. “Shifter?”
Graylin’s smile widened to a grin. “What do you want to go on after this?”
“I will give it some thought—ahhhhh!” They had ticked to the first of the hills and tipped over. It was the end of conversation and the beginning of a friendship.
Mel and Graylin were sitting at a picnic table when Mel finally asked, “How old are you, actually?”
Graylin looked around and whispered, “Fifteen years out of the shell.”
Mel blinked. “That explains that.”
Graylin smiled, “But, my mom made sure to get me credentials that are adult.”
A pair of young women sat down next to them. One of the girls smiled, “I am guessing you are talking magic. Would you mind if I tried a concealment spell so we can talk freely?”
Mel looked from the woman with dark brown hair to the one who’s hair was nearly blue. The slight point of ears flirted with her vision and Mel was properly shocked. A mage and an elf weren’t usually together.
Mel bit her lip. “Which spell were you going to use?”
“Athengar’s concealment.”
Mel grabbed a hotdog wrapper from her lunch, pulled a pen out of her small cross-body bag and she looked around before setting pen to paper.
She wrote for a minute, closed her eyes and blew across the paper. Magic took over and changed her note into a sheet of parchment.
She slid the resulting document over to the newcomer. “Here. Use this. It will hide us from all magical searches not instigated by our caregivers.”
The mage looked at it and her lips moved while she read. “How did you do that?”
“Cast the spell and I will tell you. I am Mel by the way.”
The mage continued to read and muttered, “I am Isobel, that is Esmy.”
Graylin grinned, “Call me Gray.”
Isobel nodded and chanted the spell. The moment that the parchment dissipated into mist Mel smiled.
“Right. Now we are covered.”
Esmy smiled. “Thanks for that. It doesn’t solve the problem of what we look like, but it will be handy for everything else.”
Mel cleared her throat. “Do you want a spell for that? I can write one but you will have to cast it. It is definitely elf magic.”
Esmy rubbed her hands together. “Ready when you are.”
The wrapper from her fries was pressed into duty and soon Esmy was chanting softly and her features blurred into something more human. Isobel became plain, and Gray looked like a pharmaceutical saleswoman.
Esmy looked at her hands and then she fished a mirror out of her purse. “How did you do that?”
Mel shrugged. “I can’t use spells but I can write them. What about you?”
Esmy
shrugged. “I am a half-blood. Half mage and half elf.”
Isobel blinked, “Me too. Well, half mage and half hedge-witch.”
Mel chuckled. “Half human and half werewolf. Pleased to meet you.”
Gray cleared her throat. “I am the odd one out. I am an egg-hatched dragon.”
Mel grinned. “I will consider you exotic enough for this grouping.”
Isobel leaned on the table and sighed. “So, what brings you to the fair?”
Gray smiled, “I need to learn about humans.”
Esmy sighed, “My mom wanted me to leave the house and be more human.”
Isobel chuckled, “I have a craving for fair food.”
Mel smirked, “My dad wanted me to get out and make friends.”
Isobel muttered lightly and everyone had a cup of soda in front of them. She lifted the cup and they did likewise.
“To making friends in strange places.”
The rest of them raised their cups and they all took sips together.
Mel felt a thread of magic weaving around them and it had nothing to do with a spell. The others also looked around and smiles spread through their gathering. They had always been meant to be together and in one afternoon they had accomplished the goals of the day. Who knew what could be accomplished if they met again?
Isobel cleared her throat. “Did anyone else feel that?”
Mel smiled. “We all did. Do you know what it was?”
Gray chuckled. “My mom read me all the books she had while I was in the egg and that felt like a kismet lock. When magical creatures are meant to meet, time itself acknowledges the meeting. I think that we are supposed to know each other.”
Esmy smiled. “The forest whisper is what the elves call it.”
Mel nodded. “The moon’s howl for the wolves. It seems that everybody calls it something. So, does anyone want to exchange numbers?”
Isobel chuckled. “That is an excellent idea, but I will write them out. I don’t know what your magic would do to them.”
They all giggled together and spent the afternoon eating deep fried food and telling secrets out in the open for the first time. It felt dangerous and freeing in the same moment.
Mel wandered into the kitchen of the pub and walked to the office where her parents were sitting. Well, her mother was ensconced in her father’s lap, but they were both seated.
She grinned and hugged herself. “Mom, Dad, I made some friends today.”
Her mother looked at her in surprise. “You actually did?”
“I did. We are meeting again next week if I can get a ride, two towns over to Merkerville.”
Her mom blinked. “I believe I can manage that.”
Her father grinned, “Or you can take the car. You have your license.”
She blinked. “I can take the car?”
“Well, I thought you could take your own. It’s being delivered on Monday but since you are planning, I thought you might need to work in a few practice trips before you head out.”
“A car?” Mel wanted to sit but she settled for leaning on the door frame instead.
Her father grinned. “A car. You are a normal girl with a strange talent and need as many standard trappings as you can get. A car is a great step and you can run errands for us for gas money.”
She laughed and nodded. “Right, I am going to head up to my room. Keep it quiet down here.”
Her parents chortled and she closed the door on them, listening to the murmurs and whispers that started the moment they thought they were alone. Knowing that her parents were still in love after all these years was another part of what was turning into the best day of her life.
Friends, a carnival, a car, and her parents making out in the office. It was a damned fine day.
Chapter One
Melissande Simpson was more than a little scared. Her grandmother had given her the use of the property in the woods without being given any details as to why her granddaughter required it. This blind faith was humbling and it made Jinx even more antsy about using the property to hide.
It was not that anyone was going to come looking for her. Her only value was as an Archive. Her mother had not passed on the shape shifting ability that ran in her family and her father was just a normal guy, living a normal life, with his wife of twenty-nine years. Jinx might have to make some appearances at the High Council to explain her talents, but she was fairly sure that no clan would press for her inclusion. Her mother’s clan certainly hadn’t.
The wolves never made room for half-breed children.
With Hex’s advice ringing in her head, she laid in supplies for two months. If she didn’t need to move around, the wards that Hex had had put in place around the cabin and property would keep anyone from finding her until she left the safe zone.
* * * *
Her phone rang just as she was getting ready to leave the service station for the last leg of her drive.
“Hello?”
“Hey Jinx, it’s Arabel. I just wanted to let you know that the glamour came down this morning.”
“Damn.”
“Did you make it to your safe house?”
“Not yet. I had some car trouble.”
“Didn’t Hex fix that damned gremlin for you?”
“Yeah, but I decided to keep him. He’s kinda cute.” She flicked her eyes to the rearview mirror and smiled at the ugly little critter in the baby seat in back.
“Jinx, you are incorrigible.”
“Yeah, I know. Was there anything else?”
“Yes, actually. Which one of these spells was the fire-proof one?”
“The blue ribbon. Did you need to use it?”
“Not yet, but I may need to use the spell for my daughter. She is being stalked by a pissed-off dragon.”
“Her target? She got him?”
A rich and husky laugh broke over the cell phone. “Oh, did she ever. Bad part is, now he is out to get her. It should be fun for my little Graylin.”
Jinx shook her head and was glad that she was safely parked. Her luck wasn’t up to having this type of conversation while driving. “I wish her luck with him then.”
“And good luck to you as well, Jinx. You know that you need it.”
“Bugger off.” Her grin was in her voice; it was nice to know that someone was looking out for her. Especially since her friends were now occupied.
“Bye Arabel, take care of yourself.”
“And Jinx, find someone to take care of you.”
“Talk to you soon.”
“Bye, Jinx.”
Mel sighed as the phone disconnected. Hex and Hookey were already out of communication, and now George was off as well. She was truly on her own for the first time in years.
A squawking grunt came out of the back seat and she blinked rapidly, then grabbed the box of cookies she had bought at the station and smiled at the gremlin as it tore through the packaging to the sugary treats inside.
Having one’s car infested by a gremlin wasn’t as bad as it seemed. As long as she remembered to knock on the car before she started it, nothing went wrong. Today, she forgot and had to spend one hour at the service station getting her vacuum lines reconnected. Annoying, but not deadly.
Before she had left the garage, she knocked him out of the car and buckled him into his baby seat. She bought some cookies for him and a snack for herself at the store and then was ready to finish the last leg of her trip.
With both hands on the wheel and a happy gremlin in the back of her Taurus, she finished the last hour to her grandmother’s cottage.
She sighed with relief as she turned the corner to the driveway of the little house. She could feel the wards closing around her and relaxed on several levels at the feeling of security that permeated her. She hadn’t even realized how tense George’s announcement that they were now ‘out’ in the magical community had made her until now.
She released the gremlin from his lit
tle seat then grabbed her bags from the car. It was the first of three relays. She breathed another sigh of relief as she noted that her grandmother had had the house prepared for her. Everything was clean, the fridge was humming and the lights turned on as she flipped the switch. Power was occasionally unpredictable at the cottage. There was, of course, a generator connected to the house but Jinx could never get it to work.
She tracked her gremlin by the means of watching the flight of birds. He seemed to be having a good time, and the little beggar would come back to her before she left. He always did.
Unpacking was quick, a matter of moments. Melissande had never been one to spend her money on fancy clothes so the majority of her bags were food. The one bag that was saved for last was her bag of writing equipment.
She carried it over to the desk, turned on the light and laid out her tools. Rolls of parchment, ribbons, sealing wax, ink and quills. Satisfaction lit her features as the tools of her talent were in their proper places.
Being the only living Archive in both the regular world and that of Realm was fun on occasion. It did mean that she was unable to use magic, but she was able to create spells for purposes that had never been conceived of before, on demand.
She looked down at her notes and sat to begin her assigned writs. The first spell that had been requested was a birth-control spell. It was a favourite of the goblin born. They tended to give birth in multiples, so skipping one or two breeding cycles was not a terrible thing. George had been the tester for that particular spell. Jinx hoped that it could withstand a dragon mating, it was more battering than the spell had been designed to withstand.
She wrote a spell in English and when it was completed she blew across the ink. A pleased smile broke over her features as the ink blurred and shifted into spell-script, just as it did every time. It never failed to amaze her that her own writing was becoming a part of the magical community. She sealed it and wrapped it with a red and blue ribbon, then tucked it aside.
