“Estelle, can you find Leith and bring him here.” Without letting him know our location. That last part conveyed through only my thoughts. She gave me a look that I had trouble reading, but winked away to do as I asked, even if I thought she might be questioning my sanity.
As expected, Evian protested. “Right, why don’t you just bring in the National Guard?”
“Do you have a better idea? You asked for my help and this is the best I’ve got.” There was more heat in my voice than I intended, but it wasn’t her fault my life was in a state of flux and there were still some of my abilities that came and went without rhyme or reason. If the people in my life would stop having a crisis a minute, I might find the time to devote to regaining control over my skills.
Estelle was gone no more than five minute, each one feeling like an hour in the heavy silence broken only by sighs and quiet sobs. The charged atmosphere must have communicated something of the gravity of the situation to Leith when he swirled into the room in a rush of dark leather and the heavy scent he carried with him. Brimstone. What had he been doing? Or maybe Estelle had taken the time to fill him in. Either way, I laid out the situation for him using terse words, and humbled myself enough to ask for his help.
“Can you remember anything from that day that might help me now? Something that might trigger my instincts?”
Leith raised a sardonic brow. It was the only motion in an otherwise still body, and said more plainly than words he was in one of his supercilious moods. The man had more of those than a woman riding the PMS pony.
“No need. I’ll take care of it.” He knelt beside me and reached toward Soleil. “You’re out of your league, little angel.”
I’d heard of people seeing red, it’s just that up until now, I had thought of it as a metaphor and not an actual thing. Turns out I was mistaken. Pulsing red flooded my vision as my blood boiled hot and made me forget I had asked for his help to begin with. I slapped his hand away. Hard.
Even if he could be useful, the bit of hubris humanity called an ego wouldn’t let me back away to see him try. It was tempting, though. After all, if he failed, I could gloat. I’m not proud of the impulse. That Leith had supernatural powers was not in question; his intentions were. For all I knew, he could have put the whammy on Soleil in the first place.
His smirk at the sound of my flesh sharply meeting his pushed me over the edge.
Distracted by the satisfying mental image of flaying him to the bone, I stopped trying so hard to manifest wings. That, coupled with a heightened desire to protect Soleil pulled out of me what no amount of my own will had done. They unfurled in a blaze of white-lighted glory and cocooned over the three of us to break the force of darkness surrounding the prone faerie. She began to stir just as Leith whispered into my ear, “See? You just needed to get all riled up and then get out of your own way. It’s sexy.”
The burning look I gave him failed to blast him to bits. Worse, his reaction was to pat my arm and grin at me like I was some kind of schoolgirl who had just managed to print her name. The man was insufferable, and the place where he touched my arm only tingled because I disliked him so intensely. Or maybe because he had some level of power at his beck and call. It could not be attraction. Angels don’t feel those kinds of emotions; only humans do.
Right.
With the danger over and the adrenaline ebbing from my system, I waited for my heartbeat to return to normal , but before it could the slamming of a door set it galloping again.
A lilting voice called out, “I’m home. Where is everyone?”
“In here.” Evian tossed a pleading look my way. “Please don’t tell her what happened.” Estelle faded from view, but I knew she remained close.
“You’ll never guess what…” my first impression of the woman behind the voice was of barely-contained energy. She was dressed in business casual—the dark skirt slitted to allow a hint of knee paired with a fitted white blouse seemed severe in contrast to the brightly colored scarf knotted carelessly around her neck. Dark hair curled to gently frame lively eyes the color of a blue jay’s feathers. “…happened?” Concern finished the sentence with a question as she took in the somber faces turned her way.
“Nothing. Everything is fine.” Soleil’s voice sounded tired still. “We have guests.”
Evian handled the introductions somewhat curtly by pointing to us in turn. “This is Adriel and Leith.” She pulled the young woman in for a one-armed hug. “I’d like you to meet Alexis.”
“Lexi,” Alexis corrected with a long-suffering sigh. “It’s Lexi. How do you know my godmothers?”
Godmothers? They were faerie godmothers? Too funny.
Something of my amusement communicated itself to Terra because she shot me a dirty look and then it was my turn to be dismayed.
“You know you’re soulmates, right?” Lexi pointed to me and then to Leith, who turned his head away to the side before I could get a look at his face. “Trust me, I have a sixth sense about these things.”
The wheels turning in my head finally clicked into place.
Faerie. Godmothers.
Protectors of witches in much the same vein as I had been a guardian to mortals. Terra gave me a barely perceptible shake of her head, which I assumed meant I should keep my mouth shut. Well, that was a moot point since I was too flabbergasted by her comment to say much of anything anyway.
Leith, however, was not.
“See there, I told you we were meant to do great things together.”
My answer to that was a withering stare that he ignored completely, instead choosing to turn his charm on Lexi by according her a courtly bow. “How perceptive of you.”
“Not really, it’s kind of my thing. I have a knack for putting couples together.”
With Lexi’s attention focused on Leith, I tried to signal Evian by widening my eyes while I said, “You have a lovely home, I’d absolutely love a tour of the place.” It could have been a grass hut for all the attention I had paid to the place up until now.
“Of course. Let’s start in the kitchen.”
Keeping up a descriptive patter, Evian led me down a short hallway with several closed doors leading off of it until we stepped into a room lit by a bank of windows. With stainless steel commercial-grade appliances, miles of maple cabinets polished to a gleam, and floors tiled in glittering granite, the kitchen lived up to my chance comment. Reid and Amethyst’s little house would have fit in the space with room to spare. Faerie godmothering must pay a lot better than guardian angeling.
We circled an island workspace toward the front of the double-door refrigerator situated in the farthest corner. Once out of Lexi’s hearing, I hissed, “How powerful is she?”
“Whatever do you mean?” Feigned innocence could not fool me.
I folded my arms, tilted my head back, and surveyed her with narrowed eyes. If Evian lied to me now, I was done. “Three godmothers? She’s either dangerous herself or she’s a target for someone who is. Remember who you’re talking to. I know how these things work.” In theory, anyway.
“A little bit of both, okay? Look, Lexi isn’t a factor in this whole thing with Vaeta, if that’s what you’re worried about.” I searched her face for signs of a lie and came up empty. “It’s under control.”
“How much does she know?” Not that I expected to spend any amount of time with Lexi, but being armed with enough knowledge not to shove my foot in my mouth at some point seemed like a wise decision.
“Lexi is the last in a powerful line of blood witches with a history of the type of dysfunctional family values that ends up being featured in horror movies. She is aware of the basic facts and that her knack for matchmaking is witch-borne.”
“Then Leith and I…” I closed my eyes to let the implication sink in.
“Are a fated match? Lexi is never wrong.” Not the news I wanted to hear, but there is a first for everything, so I held onto that hope as we rejoined the others.
“It’s time to go.” Before
he had much of a chance to protest, I dragged Leith out of the house and down the street—full speed for several minutes before I realized I had been too preoccupied to figure out where I was or where I was going. For once, Leith had the sense to remain quiet. That lasted about a minute.
“You’re going the wrong way.”
Taking a second to orient myself, I realized he was right, and kept going anyway.
“Why do you act the way you do? You talk about it being our destiny to be together and then the next minute you act like you think I'm a child—or worse, an idiot.”
Laughter belled out of him, rich and deep and toe-tingling. “Keeps your ego in check.”
Laser beam eyes, that’s what I would want for my superhero power if I could have one. My regular ones failed to burn a hole through the arrogant jerk. More’s the pity. “Or does it keep me from asking too many personal questions?” I knew my flash of insight had scored when his shoulders twitched. “Tell me how you came to be the defender of innocent souls.”
The pause that spun out between us was so long that I thought he had chosen not to answer, and then Leith said, “I only exist to do this work.”
His words tasted of truth, and of doubt, and of something unexpected. Sadness.
“Believe it or not, I understand.”
“You might be the only other person on the face of the planet who could,” he admitted ruefully. “We have a lot more in common than you know.”
Before I could ask what he meant by that, Estelle showed up.
“You’re going the wrong way,” she said helpfully, and followed with raised eyebrows when I growled at her.
“How can that be possible when I haven’t decided where to go next? Just tell me that.” What I wanted most was an hour of alone time to think, and plan, and just be. Embarrassing as it is to admit, the only thing that had been standing in my way lately was me. Half my angel assignments had consisted of popping in at the right time to give someone the message that self-perception could be either a stumbling block or a stepping stone. Excellent advice, even if it did sound like a platitude. The kind of advice that seems fairly obvious when you’re not the one on the receiving end of it. I mean, duh. Believe to achieve is the basis of the self-help movement, and I had been the one to deliver that message in the first place. You can thank me later.
Or you could do the smart thing: tuck your tail between your legs and slink away before you get any more caught in the middle of the power struggle between light and dark. That last came from a little voice in my head, probably the voice of common sense, if I’m being honest.
“…our next move.” I only caught the last half of Estelle’s sentence.
“Right,” I agreed, and the next thing I knew Leith’s hand landed on my arm. We made the transfer to the house on Canal Street between one breath and the next. If there was one power I wanted back, the ability to move between places was it. Hey, if he could do it…
Chapter Seventeen
In the end, I didn’t tell Estelle everything. Rushing in ahead, I hung the painting back on the wall to cover up my patchwork of sticky notes. Leith got a fleeting look, but not enough, I hoped, to put it all together. I needed proof before I was willing to involve the people—and angels—I cared about in something that could turn them into targets—or worse, into collateral damage.
Shamelessly raiding Reid’s desk, I tossed pen and paper onto the table while describing the salient points of my conversation with Cassandra, and then we got down to business.
“A nexus?” Estelle said. “But how? They’re just waypoints between worlds. Like a revolving door, right? The nearest one to here is three hundred miles away.” A frown furrowed her brow and Leith shifted in his chair.
“Is there something you want to share?”
“Wait, you haven’t heard the story of the darkest heart?”
“That’s a fairytale, nothing but a local legend.”
Tilting his head, Leith scoffed at me. “Oh, come on. You know every fairytale has a truth at the heart of it. Just because the bards put a good spin on their stories doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.”
“Would one of you please enlighten me? I haven’t heard this one.” Estelle could have pulled the knowledge from the source, but that was a skill she was still working to master. I waved a hand to let Leith know he should do the honors.
“Once upon a time…” He began.
“Really?” I said.
“Just kidding. Rumor has it that a supernatural beast with the heart of darkness plagued the area until a prison was built to contain the threat.”
“What does that have to do with Julius?” Estelle said.
“I believe Leith is saying that the legend is true, the prison is contained within a nexus which is located nearby, that he suspects Julius has also been imprisoned there. It’s a total fantasy.”
My vehement statement struck Leith funny. At least a minute passed before he finished hooting with laughter. Not even my sternest glare had any effect on him.
“I fail to see the humor.”
“Oh, I know you do. That’s what makes it so hilarious, but trust me, it’s the only thing that makes sense.” Leaning back in his chair, one ankle resting on the other knee, Leith smiled. “One day I’ll let you in on the joke, but for now, let’s keep our eyes on the prize.”
That little voice in the back of my head said something scandalous about my eyes and his prize, but I ignored it. This was not the time for those kinds of thoughts. As if he had read my mind, Leith let his smile go a little wider and turn slightly feral. All the thoughts went out of my head for half a second, and then dropped back with crushing weight.
“Let’s say you’re right. Do you have any idea where the nexus is, or how to open it—assuming it’s sealed.”
“Sure.” Leith sketched a rough outline of the city limits and added a few reference points. “This area, just off Market Street.” He drew an X over the spot. “This is the epicenter for a disturbance that extends a couple blocks in every direction.” He corrected himself, “Not a disturbance exactly, more like a quiet exodus. This whole section of town is empty.”
“Empty?”
“Right. Stores, homes, the whole nine. But that’s not even the weirdest part.” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “No one seems to have noticed. People just avoid the area, but no one talks about it. If there’s something big and bad in the neighborhood, that’s the place.”
“Right. I’ll go take a look and report back.” Estelle left in a flare of light.
“It’s not going to work,” Leith’s voice deepened. “Because I'm not letting you go alone.”
He must have read my mind. It usually takes two to open a traditionally-sealed nexus. Since I technically qualified as both dark and light, I could probably pop this one open all by myself. No one else needed to be put in danger, and if I played things correctly I might be able to stop this whole fulcrum business before it got any worse.
“At what point did you get it into your head that I need either your permission or your protection?”
“You’ll have the one, but never the other. You think I can’t see the wheels turning in that pretty head of yours?” Rising abruptly, Leith stalked to the wall and lifted down the painting covering my notes. “Or read between these lines?”
I moved to stand beside him. “If you really do see what I’m seeing, then you know what I have to do. I won’t let you stop me.” Simple truth, spoken firmly. Nothing he could say or do would change my mind.
Not even what he did next, which was to pull me into his arms and kiss me until I felt like I was on fire. He swallowed my squeak of surprise and then I was kissing him back. Deep, drugging kisses that stole my breath and sent tingling sensations screaming from my toes to my nose. How long it would have lasted, I couldn’t say, but what stopped it was the sound of Estelle pointedly clearing her throat.
“When were you going to tell me about this?” She asked.
“It just happened.
It’s not like I knew you were standing there.” I thought she meant the kiss. Probably because it was all I could think about at that particular moment.
“Not that. This.” She pointed to the wall.
“Well, I started to tell you right before Evian called, and after that well, things got weird.” I felt like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar—and wasn’t I the trainer here? The one who was supposed to be in charge?
“You give me your word right now that you will not do anything stupid. Right now, Adriel, I mean it.” Estelle gave just enough of a push that her will tingled through me. Whatever intentions I had of sacrificing myself without endangering anyone else washed away. She’d stick to me like glue if I didn’t agree now.
“Okay. I promise not to do anything stupid.” At least she hadn’t specified what she meant by stupid, and when the two of them finally left me alone I moved forward with the non-stupid parts of my plan.
It took almost two hours of concentrated effort to regain control of my wings.
Something of Cassandra’s prophecy came back to me.
Seek not your grace in the faces of others, in the wheels of time, nor mourn for its passing and home. Tis not gone, nor does it lie in subdued slumber. Tis not diminished by circumstance or flesh.
By circumstance or flesh. Flesh or circumstance. Flesh was my circumstance at the moment.
Embrace your path and that which blinds you to your own light will fall away. All that you have ever been or will ever be lies within you now as it always has.
A fancy way of saying what I had heard from others yet had not completely accepted. Earthbound and an angel still. That was me.
I reached for my grace.
Sweat pooled at the small of my back, dripped down my face, and dampened my hair by the time the motions had become smooth and effortless. Curiosity got the better of me in the end, and I lifted one of the mirrored closet doors from its track, propped it against the opposite wall, and angled it so I could see what happened to my clothes when they unfurled. That was a waste of time because it happened so fast I couldn’t actually figure out the sequence of events, but best as I could tell, the wings morphed right through my blouse like it wasn’t there.
Earthbound Wings: An Earthbound Novel (The Psychic Seasons Series Book 6) Page 11
