“Sybil, you can’t waltz into our home and accuse us of preparing for an attack,” Semele growled, pointing her cigar at the intruder with shaking fingers. “The Seelie Court needs proof before it can condemn us all!” Her voice raised as she took a step closer to the woman. “The Elves can’t come in here and play badass for the fairies. The ladies have no proof… they have no right!”
Sybil’s face never flinched at the threat. With a raised finger, she halted Semele’s advance. The other Succubi held their ground, letting the drama play out. Kennedy was certain the war might start right then and there.
Sybil’s voice flowed sweet as can be. “You have little recourse in the matter. After the way you flaunted your abilities around town, calling attention to your race with your flamboyant behavior, and your unsavory appetites… it is little wonder the humans have not plucked your kind off the street and saved all Fae from the embarrassment you create. The ladies grow tired of your extravagances. Your time is coming.”
The veins popped from Semele’s neck as she struggled to make her point. “Pack sand… You have no authority here. You are a guest… You break the peace, not I.”
Kennedy remained focused on the confrontation taking place before her eyes. She never thought the day would come when open warfare hit the underground of Boston. If this became a shooting war, all hell was about to break loose.
“I have come for the stranger. Bring him to me, and all might be forgiven.” Sybil said while her grip held Semele in place.
Kennedy never noticed the vines and roots working their way toward Sybil. It was best for them all that the female Elf didn’t notice them either. From above and below, tendrils of vegetation attacked the limbs of the woman in white, breaking her concentration.
Free of the holding spell, Semele dropped to her knees, gasping for breath. Their leader free of the conjuring, the other demons rushed and overpowered the Elf. They all used excessive force with gleeful abandon.
Kennedy was fairly certain where the roots and vines came from, but now was not the time to question the twins. They needed to find Tom and make their escape before all the Sylvan kind came to the defense of Sybil.
“Get out of here and protect that man. He is key to the future.” Semele coughed into the floor. With a yank, she snapped a chain around her neck and held an amulet out to Kennedy. “Take this, it will open the portals for you.”
Kennedy didn’t need to be told twice; she snatched the chain. If the Elves acted on the orders of the ladies from the Seelie Court, there had to be some truth to the rumors. If the Sylvan side wanted him, she was certain both the outcasts and the Redmen would be hunting him as well.
If The Authority were worth a salt, they would be on his tail too. Who was this mystery man? Could he be the new-blood witch like the others thought he was? Had she misjudged him?
Kennedy was now certain she needed to get Tom out of the city, but where would be safe? That was the question. And who would pick them up and drive them to safety?
The tunnels under the graveyard looped back onto themselves, not leading anywhere but in a twisted maze to confuse interlopers. Kennedy caught Tom’s scent as soon as she traveled a few steps past the entrance of the tunnel he’d picked. Another, different smell passed her nose. One she’d never smelled before, all freshly plowed fields and pine tar.
She made out a raspy voice saying, “Remember to call my name three times?” She’d heard that sound before. It was a stone mouth, come to speak to Tom, she assumed. How to control the mouth, and what to do with the information? With the attack of the Sylvan and the interference from the Seelie Court, now was not the time for a confrontation. She would need to keep an eye on Tom. He was certainly not what he appeared to be.
His eyes opened wide when she padded up to him. The blue flame from his finger cast strange shadows over his face.
Kennedy whispered, “We need to go. There has been a development.”
“What if I don’t want to go?”
“Then you can stay here and deal with the Elves and their handlers. They want you off the streets… or worse.” Kennedy hated leaving her covenmates behind, but they could take care of themselves.
Tom shook his head and cast his eyes to the tunnel floor.
Kennedy continued, “Look, I don’t know who or what you are, but Semele thinks you’re important. Someone is trying to collect you, that means you have some worth. If Semele thinks you’re important, that is reason enough to get you safely out of the city and to our safe house.” It took every ounce of willpower to not cuff him on the ear to get him to listen.
The flame went out on his finger, and he stood. “How do we get to your safe house?”
Kennedy reached out and took his hand in hers. “Follow me, we need to run.” Her words were punctuated by an explosion where the others held Sybil. “I think the Sylvan have arrived.”
She needed to temper her speed. Her shoes carried her much faster than a mortal could possibly run.
Walking along swiftly, she pulled out her cell and pulled up her Uper app, like Uber for witches. She called up a ride to meet them at the Park Street Church and take them to the Mystic River Reservation. Normally, holy ground was considered sacred, but a Sylvan just attacked the Succubi in their home. There was no guarantee any of the old agreements would be honored. This was the beginning of a new age.
The door opened, and snow drifted down the ramp. The pair breached the tunnels near the church. Her phone told her the ride was right around the corner. She was never so happy to see a familiar faded-blue 1975 AMC Gremlin, complete with the eight-track player blaring Santana when it dashed around the corner and aimed for the front of the church.
Chapter 5:
The huge wet flakes of snow from the late-season storm did a wonderful job of covering the streets. Muck already covered the dividing lines, and the cars that traveled kicked up the slushy mess when they sped past. If the plows didn’t start clearing the snow soon, the streets would become impassible. The antique of a car slid to a stop at the curb, and the passenger window rolled down despite the cold. Santana’s guitar rips pierced the night.
Kennedy leaned down to make sure the driver was who she thought it was. “It is good to see you, Alondra.” She didn’t hold back the smile when spotting the woman with the dark mustache behind the wheel.
“Sista, how chew doin’? Chew know I like Alleye better… Hop in, this is no night to be out on the streets.” The voice of the driver was a deep rich baritone, her accent smooth as silk.
“Tell me about it, but I have a friend.” Kennedy pulled Tom up from behind.
“It’s okay, he’s a cutie. Just throw ‘im in the back. No room up here.” She pulled a handle, and the back hatch of the Gremlin popped open.
Tom paused, looking at the hatchback. “You have got to be kidding me…” he muttered.
“It is a short distance, but we can’t walk it, too dangerous. We need to hurry up, there is no time.” Kennedy pulled on his arm, urging him into the flat of the lowered back seat.
Tom relented and climbed into the storage area. Kennedy slammed the hatch closed once he was clear and ran to the passenger’s side door. “Alleye, let’s get out of here.”
The driver didn’t hesitate, stomped on the gas, and made a hard left turn of the wheel, forcing the car into a spin as Alleye laughed. The compact car did a full donut and a half on the slushy street. The sound of Tom bouncing off the rear windows made Kennedy smile, but she did reach for the seat belt.
When her search for the strap came up empty, she asked, “Where’s the seat belts?”
Alleye laughed with a maniacal twist to her voice as she joked, “Seat belts? We don’t need no stinkin’ seat belts.”
The little car flew down the street. Ahead, the light turned red, but Alleye showed no sign of slowing down.
Kennedy pressed both hands against the overhead. “Alleye…”
Tom yelled from the back, “Red light, red light, RED LIGHT!”
&n
bsp; “Oh, shit.” The driver looked up from playing with the eight-track player. She reached down and pressed a button on the top of the gear shift and downshifted. The compact car jolted with renewed power, then the front wheels lifted off the street as the car rose into the air, barely missing the cross-traffic. “Always safer up here, fewer things to hit… Where chew heading, sista?”
“Take me home, the Mystic Reservation. You should know the place to drop me off.”
Kennedy made out the sound of Tom cursing from the back of the car. She should have warned him of the car’s unique capabilities, but she couldn’t remember everything. “You all right back there?” She risked a glance to check on Tom. There was little to see out the windshield, above the streetlights, the snow was even heavier. In the air, they flew through near-whiteout conditions. This was a strange storm, indeed.
“I’m fine… I’ll head back later and pick up my stomach. I seem to have left it behind when we took off.” It was hard to tell if he enjoyed the flight or not. “Is this a pizza box back here? What if someone sees us?” Kennedy guessed not.
“Don’t chew worry. Once the tires leave the ground, we go invisible. I got something special under the hood.” Alleye smiled, and a front gold tooth flashed in the rearview mirror. “Chew can have a slice if chew hungry, sweetie.”
Tom grumbled from the back, “No, thank you.”
The car flew past the skyscrapers and was quickly over the Charles River. MIT flew under them in the dark. “We will be in Medford soon. Let you out at the normal place?”
“As long as we are not being followed.” Kennedy twisted around, scanning out the rear of the car for any headlights tracking them in the whiteout conditions.
Alleye laughed. “Chew kidding, right?”
“Yeah, right.” There were only a few flying cars still around. It would take a hardy soul to follow them on a broom in this nasty storm.
A strip mall parking lot made a suitable landing strip for the Gremlin. Alleye touched the car down in six inches of snow across the Mystic Valley Parkway from the park where the coven’s tree grew. The landing couldn’t be called soft.
Tom bounced around the back like a pea in a boxcar. “Watch it,” he cried when he finally stopped rolling around.
Kennedy stepped from the car. She scanned the area looking for a tail.
“Can you let me out of here? I think I’m going to be sick,” Tom wailed from the rear of the car.
Kennedy wasn’t in the best of moods. She worried about her covenmates she’d deserted back under the graveyard. “Quit bitchin’, will you.” She popped the hatch on the trunk.
Tom never fully escaped before hurling his guts onto Kennedy’s black and white sneakers.
She wasn’t quick enough to step back. “Damn it!”
Alleye called out from the front to the pair, “Chew two be careful. Strange goings on out here right now.” She stuck her arm out, two cards in hand. “Chew both take these. Call me direct if chew need a lift. It’s no night to be walking the streets.”
Kennedy took both cards. “Thanks.”
The engine raced while Kennedy pulled Tom safely out of the back and slammed the hatchback. Before they back peddled to the curb, the Gremlin did three complete donuts in the fresh snow, spraying muck everywhere.
Kennedy pulled Tom by the arm, nearly dragging him across the parkway and to the sidewalk that bordered the greenway.
Upon reaching the snow-covered brush of the wild area, he planted his feet. “Thank you for everything… but I’m not going into the woods with you.” His voice was breathless as he spoke. “Thanks for all your help. I think I will leave you here.” His fists flexed and clenched as he spoke.
“I don’t think you understand—”
Tom cut her off, “I understand fine. You don’t want me here, you are only doing this for yourself. I think I am better off on my own than with you.” He could have left it off there, but he continued. “You have done nothing but treat me like shit since I saved you—”
It was Kennedy’s turn to cut him off. “I never asked you to save me. I didn’t need your help.”
Tom jerked his arm from her grip. “Fine. I’m out of here.” He stormed off down the sidewalk.
“You won’t last thirty minutes on your own,” Kennedy called to his back. “You forgot Alleye’s card…”
Tom answered with a raised middle finger.
In the span of two steps following Tom, Kennedy changed her mind three times on her course of action. Follow him, blast him in the back, or screw him, all flashed through her mind. In the end, she decided—not knowing his capabilities to take an attack—it would be dangerous to blast him in the back with a spell. If he didn’t want her help, she felt under no obligation to force it onto the strange man from down south.
Stuffing the cards in her front pocket, she looked at his clear path of prints leading through the snow. If someone did follow them, they would track him down easy enough. With the murmuring of a few keywords, she stepped off the cement and through the undergrowth of the wild park, without a trace of her passing left behind.
She pulled out her cell. There were no calls or messages from the twins. The urge to reach out to the pair called to her, but instead, she decided to trust the two. They would call her if they needed help… if they could. Now was the time to warn the others in her coven of the attack by the Sylvan and the possibilities of war coming to Boston.
She never thought the day would come when the Seelie Court would act so brashly. They were supposed to be the good Fae. It only proved that, no matter the group's reputation, people would act first in what they believed to be their best self-interest. Old alliances be damned. For most creatures, power was the only thing they understood.
The huge oak tree stood waiting for Kennedy. It had been her home since she was old enough to understand what home was. The coven moved here after the end of the witch trials, before the curse of the nonwitch Toothaker was fully understood.
Kennedy scanned the area. The tree itself was well known to those who lived in a world of magic. Anyone who wanted to visit the coven here could. Her concern was over the mundanes, the normal people of the world would not understand a teen girl walking into the hollow of an oak tree in the middle of a dark snowy night. That is how urban legends are started.
Satisfied no one watched her, she pressed her hand on the rough bark, next to the hollowed section of the trunk. The tree opened wide and exposed the spiral staircase leading down.
The smell of freshly baked cookies greeted her return. It was the tree’s way of letting her know everything was all right inside. Her home, the coven’s home, for the past few centuries was a living breathing part of the landscape and as much of Kennedy’s family as the witches who shared the space with her. Besides, when she came into the space and smelled the cookies, she always felt like a cookie-making Elf from an advertisement.
The main hall under the tree looked more like a tavern from a fantasy film than a kitchen and living room combined. A large table dominated the center of the room with a modern kitchen along one wall. On the far side, a hearth burned with a magical smokeless fire with a large cauldron suspended by an iron strap always ready to brew something. Herbs and other spell components grew from the walls, turning her living room into a greenhouse.
Always warm under the ground, Kennedy shed her black hoodie and draped it on the back of a chair.
“Anyone here?” she called out, not sure who to expect. There was no way Trinity and Dani beat her back. She hoped they had escaped the Sylvan’s attack unharmed. The twins were resourceful and powerful witches together. Teamed up with the firepower the Succubi could throw, the Elves would find their hands full.
“Marylynn, are you here?” she called out for the eldest witch in the coven, but no one answered.
She stepped to the door of her room and called out the name of the second in command of the coven before she stepped over her threshold. “Johan, are you here?” There was no real hiera
rchy like that, but it helped Kennedy to keep them in order. She paused before pushing the door open to her own room.
Kennedy had one job, to keep Tom safely out of the hands of those who might hurt him, and she failed. She had left Dani and Trinity alone with the Succubi to cover her retreat, and then she let her ward simply walk off into the night.
She knocked her head on her door to punish herself. What was she supposed to do? She was not going to kidnap the man. She was not going to force him to follow her.
The scent of the tree shifted and brought her out of the funk of a mood. The smell of rotten cabbage whiffed past her nose. She was no longer safe and alone. Someone, a Goblin by the stench, intruded in the coven’s space. The scent of applewood pipe tobacco reached her nose next. She knew that smell, both of them together only meant one thing. A visit from The Authority agents she disliked the most was in her immediate future.
“Imagine finding you here,” the familiar voice called out.
Kennedy called out, “Decker…” and his lapdog Hooper the green Goblin invaded her space. “It is my home. Where else should I be, or who did you expect to find?”
Kennedy knew agent Decker from when he was a greenhorn rookie. Decker and his partner Goblin worked together since the golden age of the eighties. Kennedy knew the human from back when he didn’t need to wear a hat to hide his thinning gray hair.
Goblins earned a reputation for being nasty, disgusting creatures. Kennedy hated to judge a race from only a few examples, but Hooper working for The Authority wasn’t an outlier. If there were a Fae to be found working for the norms, or turning into a stoolie, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it would be a Goblin. They sucked up to the influential, no matter the race. The other Fae treated them like the scum they were.
The short creature jumped on the table, his pugged nose sniffing the air. They could have shifted, made themselves more normal looking, tried to fit in, but Kennedy was certain they relished being the green monsters they presented to the world. “She’s alone.” He was tracking mud everywhere he moved.
Kennedy Awakens Page 5
