“You get used to changing,” said Annalise, turning to me. “Though I prefer not to let it all hang out in public.”
“No objections there,” I replied. There were some things that were most definitely not best kept between friends. I waited for Gage and the other man to return and once introductions were out the way, I gave the condensed version of events quickly.
“So what happens now?” Annalise asked. She looked from the broken circles chalked on the floor to Chyler huddled against her aunts. We were a shell shocked weary bunch, but we were alive. She pressed her hands to her ears when everyone started talking at once.
A spectacularly loud whistle stopped the cacophony and we turned en masse to look at Gage. “The pack will be around tonight to keep an eye out. They’ll stay outside so you won’t have to worry about them.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” I said, meeting his eyes and seeing the uneasiness that flashed in them. He was worried, yes, but I didn’t feel like I had any right to claim his concern.
“We’ll put extra wards around the house,” added Seren, before looking at me with admiration. “Though Stella’s were pretty good.” Which was apparently all the praise I was going to get for keeping our asses safe.
“I need a drink,” I muttered, lurching off the sofa and walking quickly out the room
“I’ll help,” said Gage and I heard him follow me into the kitchen.
I ducked my head inside the fridge and pulled out a six pack of soft drinks and set them on the table, wishing I had something stronger. A lot stronger. Most of all, I just wanted to occupy myself with something normal. When I shut the door, Gage was pouring coffee grounds into the pot.
“It’s getting cold out,” he said conversationally as if nothing particularly exciting had just happened. Me, my nerves, were like jumping frogs I felt so wired.
“Seriously? That’s all you have to say?” I said, my voice bubbling into what could be reasonably construed as hysteria. “It’s cold out?! How about it’s terrifying outside... oh, and maybe, how did you get rid of the evil witch inside Chyler? Or what about, is she going to live?”
“I kinda figured she was okay,” said Gage, looking at me oddly. “She looked all right to me.”
“Well she is now,” I moaned. I stomped from the fridge and started pulling open the cabinet doors, searching for the biggest box of cookies I could find. I guessed we could all do with a little sugar right now. “It only took spells I’ve never even seen before to separate the spirit possessing her, a big threat from the wicked witch, me nearly losing my body and magic I don’t even understand. So, yeah, Chyler’s doing fine now.”
Gage crossed the kitchen in a few quick steps and wrapped his arms around me. I just sank into him, my legs sagging with the weight of keeping me upright. My whole body had started to tremble. “Tell me,” he said and I let the story tumble out. After I’d finished he held me still, one hand stroking the small of my back, the other resting on my hair, holding me to him. “It’s okay now,” he murmured against the top of my head where he’d rested his chin. “I’ll protect you.”
“You already did,” I mumbled into his warm, strong chest. The wolves had proved an extra boon to the cause when they corralled the witches and added their extra weight as a threat. Some of the witches may have been prepared to attack, but not when the chances of them getting bitten were high. I shuddered when I thought of the damage Georgia Thomas could have done.
“I’ll always...” Gage started to say, but he was cut off as I felt him pull away from me. Not quite ready to support myself I almost sank to the floor but, unfortunately for Gage, he stumbled and knocked me over. I landed on my butt with a thump.
“What the hell?” I gasped. Gage had caught himself on the table and was rising back to his full height. Evan loomed over him, his face thunderous when he threw a punch that knocked Gage back. Gage rubbed his cheek where Evan had caught him, his face reddening, his body tensing, and for a moment I was afraid he would change in my kitchen. Instead, they stared at each other with venom in their eyes. I scrambled to my feet and positioned myself in between them, a hand on each chest pushing them apart as they pressed in.
“Don’t take advantage of her,” Evan said, his voice laced with anger.
“I was looking after her,” Gage growled. “You should try it some time.”
Evan’s voice was a low, warning rumble. “Keep your hands off her. Stella’s with me, not you.”
“You sure about that? Doesn’t seem like you’re around much,” taunted Gage.
“I’m here now.” Evan took a step closer.
I pulled my hand from Gage’s chest to push both hands firmly at Evan, pleading, “Stop this! This is my house and I won’t have either of you fighting in it. This is not okay.” I hoped the finality in my voice was getting through to both of them.
“I’m sorry, Stella,” said Gage after a moment and even though we weren’t touching, I still felt him step away, leaving an empty space behind me. He walked around the table and out of the room, picking the soft drinks up as he went, without a backwards glance.
“What were you thinking?” I whispered furiously at Evan. “You hit him!”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“So?” I said, because that’s all I could think to say. “You can’t hit every guy who looks at me in a way you don’t like, or who gives me a hug. That’s not okay.”
Evan relaxed and rotated his shoulders to shift the tension in his muscles. He rested against the counter, his face guarded as he asked the one question I didn’t want to answer. “Did anything happen between you two?”
I paused for a moment, not sure how I wanted to play this. Sure, we’d kissed on our poker date and we’d kissed a few days ago when I didn’t know if Evan was coming back, but I’d put a stop to anything more. It was wrong, and I didn’t want to be the kind of woman who cheated. Not that I was even sure if it was cheating; Evan had left in such a hurry without a word and we hadn’t had a chance to talk properly yet. I kept it simple. “We’ve kissed.”
Evan opened his mouth like he had something else to ask but then he seemed to think better of it and just shut his mouth, shaking his head. “I love you, Stella,” he said, when he seemed to gain some control of the connection between his brain and mouth. “I shouldn’t have walked out on you. I should have stayed and listened. I’m not going anywhere, if you’ll still have me.”
“I love you too,” I said quietly, “and I don’t want you going anywhere but you’ve got to be straight with me. Tell me if you’re going and not coming back, don’t just leave me waiting and wondering. Don’t hide things from me. And don’t hit my friends.”
He was quiet for a moment, then “Done.” Evan wrapped his arms around me and I found myself stood in the same spot, hugging a second man in less than five minutes. He tipped my chin up to kiss me gently. “I can make the coffee faster, you know?” he murmured and nodded to the table. A moment ago, it had been empty. Now there was a fully laden tray with a steaming coffee pot and all my mugs were out of the cabinet, along with sugar and creamer.
“Very cool,” I smiled, not letting it be lost on me that there was some one-upmanship there. I didn’t want a cute trick to cover up that I was pissed. I looked up when I heard a light click of heels and Étoile entered.
n’Need any help?” she asked, her face full of knowing. She looked from the tray to Evan. “Apparently not. Perhaps Evan could carry?”
Evan let me go and picked up the tray before it occurred to me to wonder if it was really a good idea to shepherd Evan into the same room as Gage. It was a good job I was short on furniture; any fighting would demolish it.
“Gage seems to have a bruise developing right here.” Étoile pointed with her forefinger to her cheekbone, then upwards to her eye. “He didn’t seem to have it before he came in here.”
“Evan hit him.”
“What an asshole,” she said, looking at the door as if looks could sting. I hadn’t
thought she had taken to Gage so much. Apparently I was wrong. Unless something else was going on that I’d missed.
“He may be an asshole, but he’s my asshole.”
She turned to me, arching one perfect eyebrow. “Bet you meant that to come out much more romantically.”
I stifled a giggle. “Yes.”
“Are you okay?” Étoile had put on her concerned face.
“It’s all a huge mind fuck,” I said, breathing out heavily. “A year ago, if someone had said this was my life, I’d have laughed. The Brotherhood tried to kill me, the Bartholomews, possession, dead witches trying to come back, Georgia freaking Thomas! What happened to my nice normal life?”
“It gets better,” Étoile smiled, reaching out for me. I placed my hands in hers and she held them for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, it does get better for you.”
“What did you see?” I asked.
She hooked an arm through mine and gave me that secretive smile of hers. “Now that would be telling.”
~
Chyler woke up an hour later, looking around her in disbelief. She shuffled on the sofa until she was sat upright, blinking in surprise at everything around her before bursting into tears and pushing her aunts away. I knew how she felt. Before anyone could fuss over her, admonish her, or say anything downright stupid, I caught her in my arms and bundled her into my bedroom. If anyone protested, I didn’t hear them.
I let her curl up on my bed, sobbing, and when she was ready I filled in the gaps of her memory while she gaped at me as if I was telling her a particularly awful bedtime story.
“Stella, I don’t want to be a witch.” Chyler had shuffled so she was sat on the edge of my bed, her shoulders hunched like she was trying to make herself smaller and less obvious. “I didn’t ask for this. I just want to be normal like everyone else.”
“But you’ve been brought up with this.” I sat beside her, so close that I could feel her body shake with frustration.
“I know and I have this amazing lineage. Everyone tells me that. Everyone thinks I should be so proud and that magic is part of who I am, but I just don’t want it.” Chyler wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. “The tricks are cool, and they’re fun, but this... This is all messed up! I’m seventeen. I shouldn’t have to deal with... spirits and daemons... and werewolves. What the fuck is all that about? I want to finish high school and go to the prom. I want to have a boyfriend and I want to get drunk without worrying that I’m going to blow all the lights with some stupid spell that I didn’t even mean to say!”
“Can’t argue with that.”
“I don’t want to live like this.” Chyler looked so small and alone. A long time ago when magic had seemed more like a curse than a gift, I had known just how she felt. Yet Chyler had lots of people who could help her and guide her if she wanted; she had grown up understanding and being part of the supernatural. “I want to have a choice. I don’t want this forced on me,” she finished.
I thought about all the decisions that had been taken from me. Even when Étoile had rescued me and insisted I come back to the States with her I hadn’t questioned them. Now I wondered how much of that was down to her influence, and how much was it that it just didn’t occur to me that magic couldn’t be part of my life. It had never come to my mind to me that I could make it all go away. It had never even been an option, but that didn’t mean it had to be the same for Chyler.
“I once knew a couple of guys who were spellbound,” I said slowly, trying to think through what I was saying, what I might be offering. “One just had his magic bound so he couldn’t use it at all. The other one, he was a nice kid but he struggled to control it so he asked to be bound. He could use some magic but not enough that it was a problem for him.”
“I want that,” said Chyler. “Not just a little bit of magic. I want all of it gone. I don’t want magic, even if it wants me. Can you do that for me, Stella? Can you make it go away?”
“I think so, but I think you should talk to someone else first. Maybe your aunts, or your dad?”
Chyler shook her head. “They would convince me not too. Magic is too much a part of them and their lives. They can’t imagine life without it. I think they even look down on regular people.”
I could hear Étoile and Seren laughing as they passed the bedroom door. Well, didn’t that sound familiar. “It’s your choice,” I said simply.
“Can you do it? Can you take it all away? Please. I just want to be normal.”
I nodded. “I haven’t done it before but yes, I think I can.”
“The book can stay with you.”
“Huh?”
Chyler pointed to my dresser. The top had been empty a moment earlier but now the book, which had stayed absent over the last few days, was sat there. “I don’t think it likes my aunts much and no one knows it’s here. Plus if it’s here, it’s where it wants to be. It made sure I found you.”
“It tried to warn me too. Are you sure, Chyler?” The book was old and powerful and it was a tremendous gift.
“I’m sure. It will stay as long as it wants and you’ll be able to use it. I’m sure of that.” She looked at me with her big eyes. “Please try. If it wasn’t for magic, and the temptation, none of this would have happened and my mom wouldn’t be dead.”
“Okay.” I was going to have to wing this one. I placed my hands on Chyler’s temples and I felt the connection between us. I eased my will into her and felt the familiar tingle of magic flow through me. I held my hands at her head until I felt her magic ebb away.
“Is it gone?” she asked when I let her go.
“Yes,” I said, “but not completely. I willed your magic to be hidden but you can call it back. Anytime you want. You’re in control.”
“How do I call it back, if I ever wanted to? I don’t, but, you know, if I did.”
“It’s like a safety switch. You just have to will it, as powerfully as you can and it’ll be there.” I couldn’t in good conscience just take Chyler’s magic away, but I could give her the option to restore it if she wanted too. “Like I said, it will always be your choice.”
“But otherwise it’s gone?” Chyler’s face filled with hope.
I smiled and nodded. “You don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“The council won’t try to hurt me?”
I shook my head. “They never did. Dina must have made you think that. They actually tried to help.” It pained me to think it, but if the council hadn’t tried to intervene, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation.
“My head was really messed up.” Chyler sucked in a breath. “Will you tell my aunts?”
“You’re on your own on that one.”
“Will you at least come out with me?”
“Sure.”
Chyler stood up and smoothed her clothing with the flats of her hands. She took a deep breath and walked to the door, then, with her hand on the handle paused for a moment. “I’m nervous,” she said.
“You don’t have to be. They should respect what you want.”
“Do you respect me?” Chyler seemed desperate for some kind of approval.
“Yes.”
“Well, okay, then. Thanks, Stella. Thanks for everything.”
I followed Chyler out of my room but I let her approach her aunts on her own. I watched her for a moment, just long enough to see Hayley cry and Victoria hug Chyler before I turned away. This wasn’t a scene meant for anyone but them.
Gage was in the kitchen nursing an ice pack against his eye and cheek, a purple-blue bruise staining the surrounding skin. I was angry that Evan had hit him and relieved that he had been so restrained – it could have been so much worse if a fight had sprung out. It hadn’t escaped my notice that only Gage had apologised to me.
“Are you okay?” I asked. I wanted to reach up and peel away the ice pack and check his progress but I thought I’d be over stepping the boundary if I did, so I kept my hands to myself.
Gage nodded. “I’ll be
fine in a few days. Wolves are good healers. How’s Chyler?”
“She asked me to bind her magic.”
“Did you?”
“Yes, but she can break it if she wants to.”
“You’ve been a good friend to her.” Gage peeled off the ice pack and tossed it on the drying rack. Annalise, coming through the doorway, rushed to his side but he brushed her off and she hung back anxiously. “Now that everything has calmed down we’re going home, but like I said before, some of the pack will hang around. Not that we’re expecting anything,” he reassured me.
“Okay.” I didn’t know what else to say. I couldn’t ask Gage to stay without giving him the wrong impression or offer to help without looking like he wasn’t masculine enough to deal with this problem himself. So, I said nothing but followed him and Annalise through the house to the door where their two men were waiting. I caught Gage and Evan glaring at each other but other than that Evan gave him a wide berth, sticking to where he was leaning against the mantle-piece. I hoped my warning had sunk in. I couldn’t help what had happened between me and Gage now but I could ensure he wasn’t punished for it. He hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Bye, Stella.” Annalise kissed me on the cheek and stepped outside. She obviously had a lot on her mind but we both knew now was not the time to say it. The men followed her out, flanking either side like they were her personal bodyguards. Maybe they were for all I knew. I think one of them, Jay, winked at Étoile.
Gage stepped after them then turned to me. He surprised me by dropping a kiss on my other cheek and he held my hand for the briefest of moments, enough for his extra heat to send warmth through me as he pressed a little object into my hand and curled my fingers over it. “See you soon, Stella.”
Unruly Magic Page 24
