The Returned

by Bishop O'Connell

  She wove together an equation, trying to replicate the magic Seven was using. The tendrils of dark magic lashed out at Wraith’s, but she gritted her teeth and pushed forward with everything she had left, little though it was.

  Her rage vanished, replaced with an almost alien emotion: serenity. She found the talisman and threaded her own magic through its quantum information. A silent prayer went through her head, and then she tore the amulet from existence.

  Or rather she tried.

  The dark force inside the artifact fought back against her, tightening itself in resistance to her magic. She gritted her teeth and forced more power into her efforts, but now it was like trying to puncture tank armor with a plastic fork.

  Wraith saw tendrils of magic lift the amulet from the ground, and like some nightmarish spider it began skittering back toward Anna.

  “Bang!” Wraith shouted again, sending another blast of force, but the spidery thing batted it away with a leg-like coil of magic.

  Her heart pounded and her mind reeled as she struggled to find another option. The solution came to her in a flash of inspiration, and she allowed herself a small smile. The only problem was that she’d never tried it without centering the spell on herself.

  Frantically she began drawing together the familiar entropic equation, but she centered it instead on the rapidly approaching spider-amulet. She had to power the spell, but she couldn’t do it from the outside. How then? She gritted her teeth and wrapped the formulation around the tendrils of dark energy. Maybe she could use this things own power against it.

  A cold and sick feeling started to spread through her as she felt the twisted magic reach out to her, using her own magic as a conduit.

  I can give you power, child, a chill voice whispered in her head. I can give you vengeance against all those who wronged you. Let the anger and hatred feed your power! Join me, and together we can rule all!

  Great, she thought to herself as she wove the formulation tighter around the sithy-spider-amulet-thing. It thinks it’s Emperor Palpatine and I’m Luke Skywalker.

  “I’ll never join you!” Wraith shouted as she completed the equation. It was strange seeing the whirlwind from the outside.

  The amulet in response reached out with its tendrils, trying to hold on to this point in space as reality spun around it.

  Then Wraith felt herself being pulled toward it.

  Panic seized her, and she took a step back, but she couldn’t get traction; her feet were just sliding along the dirty floor.

  “Shit,” she muttered to herself as she inched closer to the outer edge of the entropic whirlwind. “Help—!”

  A feeling of warmth surrounded her, peace and calm like she’d never known. The threads of dark magic that had reached into her were cut by filaments of brilliant white.

  The amulet vanished, and the whirlwind collapsed.

  The darkness evaporated from the room, and from Anna.

  Everyone stumbled back . . . well, everyone except Seven.

  Edward’s holding spell collapsed, and he rushed to Caitlin.

  Anna fell to the ground, the only movement her chest rising and falling in ragged breaths.

  Wraith went to her knees, a wave of exhaustion hitting her like a tsunami. But she let herself smile. She’d won, with help, and hopefully her calculations were correct. If they were, they would never see that talisman again.

  “I think I’m just going to pass out for a minute or two,” Wraith said between heavy breaths as she fell back onto her ass. “Hold my calls.”

  “Two, check the girl,” One said.

  Two grabbed a bag and ran to Anna.

  Wraith had to respect his leaving his own man, still writhing in pain, to check on Anna.

  Seven let out a long sigh. “Thank you, merciful Father,” he said and crossed himself.

  Wraith gave the priest an appreciative nod, to which he replied in kind.

  Two applied some ointment to Anna’s burn and wrapped it in a bandage, setting an amulet between the rolls of gauze. Edward was carefully examining Caitlin, and that’s when Wraith saw Siobhan.

  She scrambled over to the Fian and saw a large section of ceiling lying across her. The angle of her arm made Wraith’s stomach twist.

  “That bad, eh?” Siobhan asked in a hoarse voice.

  Wraith smiled and felt tears roll down her cheeks. “Walk it off, you wimp.”

  Siobhan chuckled, then winced.

  “Sorry,” Wraith said.

  “I feel useless as a chocolate teapot,” Siobhan said. “Tell me we won at least?”

  Wraith looked back over the carnage. “I think so. Kind of hard to tell.”

  “I’m just going to lie down here for a bit,” Siobhan said.

  “Wuss,” Wraith said and sat down heavily.

  “Aye, that’s me,” Siobhan said and smiled.

  “She’s fine,” Two said as he finished up with Anna. “Second-degree burn. It’s going to leave a scar but nothing more serious than that.”

  “I’ll have someone keep an eye on her till it heals,” Wraith said.

  “The fae?” One asked.

  “Someone,” Wraith said. Her anger was still there, but now it was mixed with grudging respect. Plus she was too tired to be pissed off.

  Two tended to Six, using some thick blue gel on his face. His was a nasty burn, but as soon as the stuff was applied, he relaxed. Must have had some serious painkillers in it, she thought. Caitlin’s eyes fluttered open just before Two got to her. He said something in what was probably Latin, and a sheet of magic settled over Caitlin.

  “No concussion,” Two said. “You’ll probably have a headache for a while but nothing lasting.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on her,” Edward said. “Thank you.”

  Two nodded and went over to check on Siobhan.

  “Thank you as well,” Edward said to One and Seven.

  The two nodded back.

  “Can you help me get this off her?” Two asked Wraith.

  She didn’t have much left, but it was easy enough to pull together an equation to lever the debris off Siobhan.

  “Slowly,” Two said.

  When the Fian was clear, Wraith shoved the debris aside.

  Two did the same magic on Siobhan. “Broken radius and ulna,” he said. “It’s a clean break though, so it should heal okay. Looks like two cracked ribs but no internal bleeding.” He pulled a green clump out of his bag and held it to Siobhan’s mouth. “Eat this.”

  “It looks like shite,” Siobhan said and turned away. “Smells like it too.”

  “Then the taste won’t surprise,” Two said. “But I promise it’ll help with the pain.”

  Siobhan took the clump into her mouth and chewed. From the look on her face, Wraith figured the description of the taste was accurate. After a moment, Two set her arm, and Siobhan didn’t even flinch. Of course, she probably wouldn’t have even without the clump. When it was done, he wrapped her arm in a splint.

  “I assume you’ll get her to the same someone as the girl?” Two asked Wraith.

  “Right away,” she said and nodded.

  “Be careful moving them both,” he said.

  “Thank you,” Wraith said and held out her hand.

  Two smiled and took it. “You’re welcome.”

  “Is it gone?” One asked.

  Wraith looked over and saw him and Seven examining Anna.

  “Yes, sir,” Seven said.

  “Good work, Padre,” One said and patted Seven’s shoulder.

  Wraith helped Siobhan get to her feet, no small feat as the woman weighed a freaking ton. She steadied herself using Wraith’s shoulder, and they walked over to Edward and Caitlin.

  “You okay?” Wraith asked.

  Caitlin nodded. “I was lucky. It could’ve been a lot worse.”

  “Nicely done,” Siobhan said.

  “Yeah, it was,” Edward agreed. “That was brilliant using the barrel to burn her hand and make her drop the amulet.”

&
nbsp; “I couldn’t shoot her,” Caitlin said. “Even knowing what would happen if it didn’t work, I couldn’t do it.”

  Edward held her close and kissed her softly.

  “You wouldn’t happen to know where the artifact is, would you?” One asked Wraith in a low tone.

  She turned to him and nodded. “If my math is right, it’s somewhere near Mercury’s orbit and tumbling toward the sun.”

  One eyed her for a moment. “You’re serious.”

  Wraith nodded. “I tried to destroy it but couldn’t, so getting rid of it was the only option.” She gave him a hard look. “No way was I letting that thing become the subject of experiments and study.”

  One looked briefly conflicted, then nodded. “I guess our agreement is fulfilled, then.”

  Wraith glanced at Anna, still unconscious. “You’re not taking her.”

  “The threat has been neutralized. There’s no need for me to. That was our deal.”

  “And they get no blowback from this,” Wraith said, nodding at Edward, Caitlin, and Siobhan.

  One looked at each of them then back to Wraith. “I can’t let something like this slide again,” he said. “You came into our base of operations, hacked into our system, and took sensitive materials. On top of that, all of you interfered with an investigation.”

  “Which is why this was resolved so quickly,” Edward said.

  “And that is the only reason I’m agreeing to her request,” One said, nodding at Wraith. “Don’t push me again. I won’t be so lenient in the future. I can’t be.”

  “What about the police?” Caitlin asked.

  Everyone looked at her.

  “We made a hell of a lot of noise here,” she said, “between the gunfire, the lights, and the minor earthquakes.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” a low voice said from the door.

  Wraith turned and stared at the bear of a man, flanked by four others, standing in the doorway.

  “So I’m guessing you’d be Joe?” Wraith asked.

  Joe nodded.

  “Remember what I said,” One said to Wraith. “Everything I said.”

  Wraith studied his eyes for a long moment, trying to get a read on him. It pissed her off that he was turning out to be a decent guy. “Thanks for your help,” she said and held out her hand. It might’ve been the hardest thing she’d ever done.

  One eyed her hand, then shook it. “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “Give my best to Four,” Wraith said, unable to keep it back.

  One let out a sigh and shook his head before returning to his men. “Let’s move out.”

  “Do you need a lift?” Wraith asked.

  “No,” One said, then drew out an amulet and broke it.

  He vanished, disturbing barely a piece of dust. The rest of his team did likewise and also vanished.

  “Show-offs,” Wraith said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “You’re not going to lock her up, are you?” Wraith asked as Joe’s companions carefully lifted Anna and carried her out.

  “I weep every day for Ellie,” Joe said. “What was done to her is beyond our healers to fix. But we have people inside the hospital who are making sure she’s cared for. My sister loves her deeply, and that makes her family.”

  “You didn’t answer the question,” Wraith said.

  “No,” Joe said. “We’ll tend to her wounds and send her home.”

  “She’s going to need a lot of help,” Edward said. “She’s been through something incredibly traumatic. There’s no telling if she’ll even remember it all or if those memories will come at a later time.”

  “We’ll take care of her,” Joe said and nodded. “She’s under our protection. Though I admit, it might be useful at times to call upon a wizard with skills at healing wounds of the spirit.”

  “I’d be happy to help however I can,” Edward said and offered his hand.

  “Me too,” Wraith said. “If there’s anything I can help with.”

  Joe shook Edward’s hand and smiled at Wraith before taking hers and then Caitlin’s. “You’ve done us a great favor today. We won’t soon forget this. All the First House will know of you and what you’ve done. We’ll call you all ‘friend’ from this day forward.”

  “Thank you,” Caitlin said.

  Joe nodded, then went to Siobhan, and they spoke quietly before shaking hands, using their left instead of the right since hers was bound in a splint. Then he left, and it was just the four of them.

  “If this is what you call a bleeding honeymoon,” Siobhan said, “I’ve got to be there for your birthdays or the New Year.”

  Caitlin laughed and pressed close to Edward as he put his arm around her. She put her head on his shoulder and smiled. “I think a quiet night of cake and Netflix next time.”

  “Coward,” Siobhan said.

  “I’ll take her to Brigid,” Wraith said, motioning to Siobhan. “Once she’s taken care of, I’ll come back and—”

  “Take a break,” Caitlin said. “You need some downtime. We all do.”

  “I think we’ll be fine for the next few days,” Edward said.

  “Yeah,” Wraith said, then gestured around the room. “And all this was planned for, right?”

  “Can’t argue with that, can you?” Siobhan asked.

  “Give me your phone, Doc,” Wraith said.

  Edward drew it out of his pocket but didn’t hand it over. “Why? What are you—?”

  Wraith grabbed it.

  Edward reached for it. “You’ll need to unlock—”

  Wraith smacked his hand away, then bypassed the lock screen and went to the systems menu.

  “Maybe not,” Edward said.

  Wraith pulled out her own phone and held it to Edward’s, then she copied an extension of her tracker app over to his phone. When it was done, she put her phone away and did some adjustments to the program on Edward’s, leaving the entangled code that connected the two phones. When it was done, she dropped the widget onto his main screen and handed the phone back.

  “ ‘Don’t Panic’?” Edward asked through a chuckle when he saw the icon, a big red button labeled with that phrase. “Really?”

  Wraith smiled and nodded. “Yep, if there’s trouble, just hit that. It’ll send a message to my phone with your location, and I’ll get there straight away to pull your butt out of whatever fire you’re in. Oh, and don’t worry about having service or not; it doesn’t need it.” She turned to Caitlin. “Want one for your phone, just in case?”

  “I’m good, thanks,” Caitlin said. “You get her to Brigid, and then get some rest. Okay?”

  “Yes, Mom,” Wraith said, then she paused.

  Caitlin opened her mouth.

  Wraith stepped close and hugged her and Edward.

  Caitlin hugged her back and stroked her hair. It made Wraith think of her mom, and her heart twinged a little at missing her.

  “I mean it,” Wraith said. “You two ever need anything from me, you got it. Okay?”

  “Same here, honey,” Caitlin said and kissed the top of her head.

  “Are you lot trying to make me cry?” Siobhan said in a tone that suggested there was no risk of that.

  “Don’t be jealous,” Wraith said, then went over and hugged Siobhan, careful to avoid her arm. She rubbed her cheek against Siobhan’s shoulder. “You know I’m always there for you too.”

  “Aye,” Siobhan said, doing her best to pretend to be uncomfortable, but Wraith noted she hugged back.

  Wraith turned to lead Siobhan to a safe place to stride back to Brigid’s.

  “Wait a second,” Caitlin said and stepped away from Edward.

  Wraith stopped and turned back.

  Caitlin stepped close and spoke softly. “I understand your anger. Your rage at what’s been done to you and your friends. Believe me, I do.”

  Wraith nodded. “I can’t imagine how pissed you must’ve been when Fiona was kidnapped.”

  “When the oíche took her,” Caitlin said a
nd shook her head, “I was so scared and filled with murderous rage. At the oíche, at the world, but also at myself.”

  Though it had never really occurred to her before, Wraith couldn’t deny that all the anger in her wasn’t solely directed at Four and the Legion.

  “I’ve never felt so helpless in my life,” Caitlin continued. “My baby had been taken, and I was utterly incapable of rescuing her. I had to rely almost entirely on Edward, Dante, and Brendan for help.”

  Wraith’s heart stuttered, and she felt the color drain from her face. “Brendan?”

  Caitlin nodded. “He was a Fian, like Siobhan. He saved me when the oíche mugged me, and he took me with him into Tír na nÓg and the Dusk Lands to save Fiona.”

  “Dusk Lands?” Wraith asked, her mind spinning.

  “It’s the home of the Dusk Court fae, where their king, Fergus, rules and where he took Fiona,” Caitlin said. “But I’m getting off track.” She looked at Wraith. “In the Dusk Lands I had to face some really terrible challenges, nightmarish stuff I’d rather not talk about.”

  Wraith nodded.

  “Brendan tried to help me,” she said. “He encouraged me to get angry, to let the rage give me strength.”

  Wraith swallowed, her insides twisting. She couldn’t help noticing Caitlin kept referring to him in the past tense.

  “He was wrong,” Caitlin said. “At least for me. He was a warrior, had been for I’m guessing a very long time. It worked for him, but I can’t imagine at what cost. Rage like that carries a heavy toll; it eats away at you.”

  Wraith nodded again. “Yeah, I guess I can see that. But how did you move past it?”

  Caitlin smiled. “It sounds hokey, but I used love. The love I have for my little girl. That’s where I got my strength.” She looked at Wraith more intently. “Don’t get me wrong. I was still angry. I still hate the oíche for what they did, but I don’t let it control me.” She put her hand on Wraith’s shoulder. “You need to find your own strength. You can’t let the anger consume you. It’ll eat at your soul, and if it does that, the people you’re angry at win. Find something brighter, something better, and draw strength from that.”

  Wraith thought about Brendan and the place where she went to visit him. “Dusk Lands” seemed a very fitting term. It had always struck her as odd that the place was in a perpetual twilight, not the dark of full night but nearing it. Was it the same place? Was he the same Brendan Caitlin was talking about? It would explain a lot—the pain in his eyes, the fear, and the embers of a deep rage.